I finally got around to reading Letters, to the Men I have Loved, by new author, actress, poet Mirtha Michelle Castro Marmol... and I must say I really enjoyed it! It was so beautifully written. these simple thoughts and emotions that all women must have had and experienced eloquently expressed in short letters and poems categorized by all stages of a relationship. lust, love, and wisdom to forgiveness, change, resentment and hope.
A few of my favorite passages...
"But if it weren't for those mistakes I wouldn't have seen the beauty in me. I wouldn't have awoken the goddess that lives in me. you see, goddesses although immortal were all flawed. they were all a bit extreme at their calling, and they were all betrayed and hurt at some point. they were even considered devious but what made them unique was their strength. they did not give up. their circumstances did not deter them from their purpose or bestowing their gifts to humans. whether it was the gift of love, art, wisdom, family, intelligence, beauty or war. they gave gifts to whomever they encountered. i pray my mistakes, my loves and my pains be turned into gifts. let those gifts serve as motivation that there is strength in each and every once of us, no matter how big the ordeal has been. i pray my gifts live as myths in words with whomever i encounter, and for my words to live beyond the chambers of mortality..."
"when I met you if someone would have told me then I was going to fall in love with you, I think I would have laughed in their face. you were only supposed to be fun, an experimental phase in my young life, but life surprised me and you were fire. a fire that consumed me, and a fire that burned me. a fire that ignited my first feelings of anger, and pity, but also one of love, and in that you became a creative muse of sorts in my life. words would flow from my heart to paper, naturally. and you never knew. Ironically later you would say I was your muse."
"I chose to awake the goddess that lived in me. because why would a girl want to be treated like a princess or a queen when there is a rare species that prefers to be treated like a myth. for why would I want to be a mere mortal, if there is a goddess that lives in me? I realized the immense potential of the woman in me, and I made a choice to become her, the woman I yearned to be."