Drive Through the Night
Poems on Emptiness, Eclipse and Becoming wild
Published on 9. June 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
130 pages
978-1-953340-45-0 (ISBN)
Description
Following the release of her micro-memoir, To Lose the Madness, and the TEDx Talk at Yale University based on her life, Browning returns from a six-year poetic silence with, Drive through the Night.
Raw, gritty, lonesome, and stunningly authentic-we pick up Browning's trail at mid-life as the poet reflects on her journey through her major relationships, both with lovers and self.
The map of these poems traces the poet's journey of overcoming and re-becoming while simultaneously set against the iconic backdrop of the American Southwest. In her words, "These poems and ponderings were written across the nights-while traveling the distance between who I was expected to become and who I authentically (irrevocably) am."
In Drive Through the Night, we follow the trail of an orphan-turned-vagabond who left behind the white picket fence for the open range and open road.
Raw, gritty, lonesome, and stunningly authentic-we pick up Browning's trail at mid-life as the poet reflects on her journey through her major relationships, both with lovers and self.
The map of these poems traces the poet's journey of overcoming and re-becoming while simultaneously set against the iconic backdrop of the American Southwest. In her words, "These poems and ponderings were written across the nights-while traveling the distance between who I was expected to become and who I authentically (irrevocably) am."
In Drive Through the Night, we follow the trail of an orphan-turned-vagabond who left behind the white picket fence for the open range and open road.
Reviews / Votes
"Through photographs, poems, and location pins, Browning traverses trauma. We follow her journey through fractured relationships, grief, a suicide attempt-and ultimately healing. As she learns to return to herself, she is our guiding light. Exquisitely delicate and lyrical, Drive Through The Night challenges us to pick up the pieces of ourselves, stand new ground, and thrust ourselves into the wild ahead."-Caitlin Garvey, author of The Mourning Report "L.M. Browning's Drive Through the Night is an intensely beautiful exploration of this planet we call home and her own dark night of the soul. As we follow this speaker to different landscapes all across the country, the accompanying images and poems bring to life scenes of loss, joy, and a quiet yet fierce rebirth of the wounded spirit. This book is for any survivor seeking to 'return to the wild . . . and stand this new ground' inside themselves."
-James Crews, Poet and Editor of The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection & Joy "In Drive through the Night, L. M. Browning uses poetry and photography to detail her evolution from a socialized prisoner of expectations to a reclaimed, authentic self."
-Foreword Reviews A vulnerable, inviting poetry collection that speaks deeply to anyone who has felt lost, Drive Through the Night immerses readers in the turbulent emotions of lost love, self-actualization, suicidal ideation, and eventually, relative peace-all through often whimsical, occasionally dark poetry and accompanying photography. Touching on a history of abuse, trauma, and neglect, Browning's verses poignantly illuminate the descent and ascent from breakdown and grief, as she carries readers through her own quest to find her "true north," which she defines as "the fixed point within me" or "the authentic self."
Much like the pictured rivers and creeks that accompany her work-her own photography, taken during her many travels across the U.S.-Browning's poetry flows freely and evinces a raw authenticity. Her photos speak a thousand words, though that number is more than she needs to express a complex or incisive thought, since Browning proves an expert at saying so much in a minimum of words in wisdom-drenched lines such as, "There is freedom in the destruction\...all you have to do is survive it." Always candid about her own flaws and struggles, she shares the locale in which each piece was composed, including homesteads, national parks, and even a psychiatric ward.
These poems are beautiful on multiple levels: not only do they reveal the hard-won efforts of a woman coming to terms with her past, present, and future, but they are also visually spectacular. The striking imagery paired with Browning's simple, moving prose makes for a gorgeous ode to self-discovery and healing, suitable for any wanderer who loves direct poetry, be they lost or found.
-Publisher's Weekly
More details
Edition
Paperback original
Language
English
Place of publication
Pawcatuck
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Monotone Photographs
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-953340-45-0 (9781953340450)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
L.M. Browning (she/they/them) is a two-spirited bestselling poet whose hybrid of introspective travel writing and visual art focuses on the alchemizing of trauma through active awe-seeking and a re-wilding of one's life and self.
Over the last fifteen years, Les' twenty-something intention to help "ensure the mainstream isn't the only stream," has taken shape in the form of the enduring indie platforms: Homebound Publications, Wayfarer Books,The Wayfarer Magazine & Navigator Graphics. Their own published works have received five Pushcart Prize nominations, two Foreword Review Book Awards, and the Nautilus Gold Medal for Poetry.
Recently Browning accepted a position on the State of Connecticut's/NAMI's Lived Experience Committee and received national certification as a Survivor of Suicide Attempt (SOSA), Group Peer Facilitator through the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services Foundation in Los Angeles. They are a graduate of the University of London and Harvard University.
Les and their coydog, Kiva, divide their time between their home in the high-desert New Mexico and Wayfarer Farm in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.
Over the last fifteen years, Les' twenty-something intention to help "ensure the mainstream isn't the only stream," has taken shape in the form of the enduring indie platforms: Homebound Publications, Wayfarer Books,The Wayfarer Magazine & Navigator Graphics. Their own published works have received five Pushcart Prize nominations, two Foreword Review Book Awards, and the Nautilus Gold Medal for Poetry.
Recently Browning accepted a position on the State of Connecticut's/NAMI's Lived Experience Committee and received national certification as a Survivor of Suicide Attempt (SOSA), Group Peer Facilitator through the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services Foundation in Los Angeles. They are a graduate of the University of London and Harvard University.
Les and their coydog, Kiva, divide their time between their home in the high-desert New Mexico and Wayfarer Farm in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.