'Tencha Tea' is a collection of rhyming poems split into two parts, Bitter and Sweet. It covers everything from grief, heartbreak and trauma to love, happiness and hope. Some poems are sad, others hopeful. Together, they capture the ups and downs of life and all of the feelings that come with it.
Welcome to 'Tencha Tea.'
I put a lot of myself into this book. These poems came from some of the darkest, sweetest, messiest and most beautiful parts of my life, and putting them all together in one poetry collection feels a little bit like handing you a piece of myself.
The book is divided into two halves: Bitter and Sweet.
Bitter is where I let myself write about the things that hurt.
Grief, sadness, loss, heartbreak, trauma, and some much darker and more controversial subjects, including sexual assault. Some of these poems are difficult to process, and reader discretion is advised. I didn't want to pretend that the painful parts of life don't exist. Sometimes you need a poem that says exactly what you're feeling when you don't have the words yourself. Sometimes you need someone, even if that someone is a poet you've never met, to sit beside you in the darkness for just a while and say, "I understand."
And then there's Sweet.
After all that sadness, I wanted to remind you that life can still be beautiful. Sweet is filled with poems about love, healing, happiness, hope, and everyday moments that make everything feel worthwhile once more.
Every poem in 'Tencha Tea' rhymes.
I love the rhythm and musicality that rhyme brings to poetry, and I wanted the words to feel like they were meant to be read aloud.
A heck of a lot of time and thought went into each individual poem, and all of these poems are honest.
Something I hope you take away from this book is that you don't need to be happy all of the time. You don't need to have everything figured out. You're allowed to grieve. You're allowed to be angry. You're allowed to fall in love, to make mistakes, to have bad days, and to find happiness in the simple things.
Life is bitter sometimes. Life is sweet sometimes. Most of the time, it's both at once. That's what Tencha Tea is about.
This book is incredibly special to me. It's been years in the making, and of everything I have written, Tencha Tea is the one I'm most proud of, and I'm so happy to finally share it with you.
So pour yourself a cup, turn the page, and let this poetry collection remind you that every feeling has a place.