Upgraded to Chronic: Almost Dying Taught Me How To Truly Live

Upgraded to ChronicI had to almost dieto learn how to truly live.I had to sink to depthsof hellto write beautiful poetry.Such is life, isn't it?You have to accept the thorns to love the rose.I left my entire worldto discover my voice.I broke all the way openand put myself back together.My trauma My lifeMy strengthMy vulnerabilityAll my gift to share.My lessonon livingFully CompletelyIn her first book, Amy Figgs seeks to share her lived experiences in a genuinely raw and poignant way. While life was certainly not easy for her, she found beauty and meaning, which she shares generously with you. She currently lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with her son. She travels whenever possible and runs to nature when she can't. In a book that instructs the reader to start where you like, Amy Byers Figgs' debut collection is startlingly brave, honest, and authentic. A woman who is 'a bit much' champions her child, survives divorce, trauma, cancer, and loss, this story of triumph reminds us times of sorrow and grief and depression need to be honored. B. Elizabeth Beck, author of Mama TriedAmy's writing is so visceral that almost immediately into The Poems, I came across a passage which made me want to literally tear out the page and frame it as art. The Stories section is no less powerful. I cried. For the trauma Amy endured; what what she overcame; but mostly for her courage in gifting her story to us in such a beautifully nuanced way. Ayser Salman, author of The Wrong End of the Table, A Mostly Comic Memoir of a Muslim Arab American Woman Just Trying to Fit In