Healing Old Wounds With New Stitches

by Meggie C. Royer

Healing Old Wounds With New Stitches is the second book of poetry by Meggie Royer, poet behind the blog "WritingsforWinter."

This book is broken into two parts, the first about grief, loss, and pain, the second about recovery and survival.

Genres: Poetry, Mental Illness

41 pages, Paperback

First published November 23, 2013

About the author

Meggie Royer is a Midwestern writer, domestic violence advocate, and the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Persephone’s Daughters, a literary and arts journal for abuse survivors. She has won numerous awards for her work and has been nominated several times for the Pushcart Prize. She thinks there is nothing better in this world than a finished poem.

Royer is the author of the viral 2015 poem, "The Morning After I Killed Myself," which has since been shared nearly 7 million times and has been the inspiration for hundreds of additional poems, short films, and art projects by other artists.

Reviews

[huicyeo · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always Meggie outdone herself. I have never doubted her writings and this book of poems didn't let me down either. However, there's one issue about this book that nags at me - typos that were scattered throughout. These were pretty annoying especially when I'm immersed in the poem itself, but in retrospect I don't think it's the fault of the author. Hence why I'm still giving this a 5 star rating. Sans typo, this is another of Meggie's finest works - poignant, delicate and utterly beautiful.

[Sinclair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meggie Royer is kinda famous on Tumblr, and this chapbook of her best works is fantastic. Accessible and confessional, her works have emotional subtleties which are precise, deeply cutting, and accurate. I don't find myself pondering them over and over, but I do like her words much when I am sitting softly with them and considering.

[vio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this collection as well. The stories Royer tells with her poems are so sad but they're somewhat therapeutic to read. And, again, they're very accessible; you don't have to have experienced the events in them firsthand to respond emotionally.

[Michaela Nee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meggie Royer's poetry is absolutely phenomenal. I have such a hard time describing it; her words are just outstanding and beautiful. She's also really struggling to pay for college and other fees, so I love supporting her by buying her work!

[Indya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this back in 2013/2014 when I was OBSESSED with poetry. I remember absolutely loving it.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

As usual, Meggie Royer never fails to completely blow me away. So worth the wait for this book.

[Samaa Ashraf]

May we heal our old wounds with new stitches!

[Weasel Weasel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been following Royer’s work for quite some time, and I’m thrilled to say that I’ve featured a couple of her poems in a literary magazine called Degenerates: Voices for Peace. Meggie Royer’s work has always been a pleasure to read and I was thrilled when I received my copy of her second poetry collection “Healing Old Wounds With New Stitches.” The book itself is something I would highly recommend for anyone and everyone going through some rough times. The book itself covers a wide range of topics from Suicide to Depression, there is a poem in here for you.

The collection is split up into two parts. The first one is titled Grief. Reading through each poem, it really plunges you into grief and the process of grief. Royer uses some really great images to get her point across in each poem, and it really forces you to feel. It is immersion at its best! Poetry has a healing factor for people; it can be therapeutic, especially to those who need to be lead through some emotionally stressful times. Grief starts them on the process and slowly leads them to the path of recover, which is the second part of this collection. It’s a part that says it is okay to make mistakes and have scars. It means you are living! The quote up top I feel sums up this whole collection rather nicely. It’s here to help people, to awaken them. I couldn’t think of a better way for a collection of poetry to be read! Royer uses her intense style of writing and pushes the reader to go through one hell of an experience. It is simply something you must read!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cleverly separated into the sections "grief" and "recovery", Royer's second poetry collection is perfect for those who need to find the light at the end of the tunnel, a reason to fight the fight. She is able to connect with so many who have lost their way due to trauma of varying kinds through the written word. While some of her messages are a bit transparent for poetry, she still wields language in a powerful way that can make you feel differently about the human condition and what it means to have a mental illness.

[nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Healing Old Wounds with New Stitches (2013) by Meggie Royer is the accompanying collection to her first set of poems, Survival Songs. I didn’t find this collection any better or worse than her first set, making it a little bit of a bore for me. There are a few that are worth reading once, twice, and thrice. Above all, I’m excited to see what she has next.

[Isabella]

i can't decide what i want to rate this. i think i'm gonna have to read the poems a few more times before i decide on a rating.

[pi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

Poems of grief and recovery.