Fine Black Lines
A Book Review By Brenda Hyde

Affirmation
Excerpted From Fine Black Lines
Copyright Lois Tschetter Hjelmstad

The breasts are gone
But I am
Whole

Disfigurement
Need not include
My soul

I admire Lois Tshcetter Hjelmstad. Not because she is a breast cancer survivor; there are many brave women who have endured this horrible disease. I admire her because she laid her heart out on the pages of a book for all to see and share in. I too wrote poetry when I was in pain during difficult times in my life. I did not share the words, and in fact, had a hard time reading them again myself years later. But the author knew people that were suffering from illness needed to read her words. Perhaps they could be comforted because her words express what they cannot. Sometimes there is pain that stays in your heart and until you can find a way to recognize it, you can't let it go.

I'd like to think that the poetry and prose written in Fine Black Lines will help someone to recognize an emotion, a pain or an emotional scar and that they will finally be able to heal.

Fine Black Lines can reach someone else as well. It can be a comfort to families, whether daughters, husbands, sons or friends, of someone suffering.It can help them to understand how there loved one must feel. They might not have the words to express their emotions, but by reading Fine Black Lines together, perhaps they can comfort each other with the understanding they discover in it's pages.