#BookReview-‘Through My Good Eye’ by Rev Rebecca L Holland

Edited by Martha Harris, ‘Through My Good Eye’ by Rebecca Holland  is a memoir written in verse and I am hopeful this is the first of many publications from her.

Beckie kindly asked me to review her poetry and I was only too happy to as she is a constant ray of sunshine and promoter of positivity on Twitter-where we first met- and I was keen to see how her vision translated into poems.

She is such an advocate for disability awareness, acceptance of people in all their forms for better and for worse that her name is a joy to spot amongst your Twitter feed. She has limited vision but these poems explore what vision is-how we see and how we perceive are not always the same thing.

‘Through My Good Eye’ means so much more than at first appears, the beauty of the world can be experienced through more than just one of the senses.

Those who may be put off reading this because of the religious angle of Beckie being a reverend are doing both themselves and her a disservice. I am not a follower of any organised religion, preferring instead to find my own way, but what is written about here has so many ways of being transposed to a non religious way of being, just life in general, that I would thoroughly recommend just even trying one poem and see for yourself.

One of my favourites, for example, deals with imposter syndrome-it has a universal application in my humble opinion.

Here is a taster of ‘Failure’

‘It is the same beast

That accuses me in the dark

With hate filled whispers,

“Lose weight Do better

Wake up pretty

Look busy

Don’t let them down.”

When I wake

It stares at me from the bathroom mirror

It sneers, “Not good enough.”

Then it follows me

Out the door

To a new day.

Failure

Is a word that follows me’

It is as extremely powerful, body based, richly toned debut book which I wholeheartedly recommend as it has such life affirming pieces, thought provoking words and a deeply felt sense of heart.

At 32 pages long, it is absolutely something worth taking time out of your day to read, and over which to linger.

Vision is not merely limited to seeing with one pair of functioning eyes-seeing through to the true colours of the heart is something you do with all of your soul.

About the author…

Rev. Rebecca (Torres) Holland graduated in 2011 with a B.S. in English Education. After graduation, she went on to attend Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. where she earned her Master’s of Divinity in 2014. While at Wesley Seminary Rebecca served as a pastoral intern at a cooperative parish where she gained experience working with both a large congregation in a prosperous area of the city as well as a smaller and more ethnically diverse congregation.

While in D.C., Rebecca also served as a pastoral intern at the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) located on Capitol Hill. While working at GBCS, Rebecca gained experience working with issues of social justice, including the Imagine No Malaria Campaign. She was ordained as an elder in the United Methodist Church in May of 2018. She currently serves as the solo pastor at a wonderful church in Central Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Order of St. Luke

Rev. Rebecca is currently working on a nonfiction book about the importance of helping people to articulate and share their stories. It is her goal to help to use her voice in order to help to create spaces in the church for people who have been traditionally marginalized, especially women, people of color, and people with disabilities.

Rebecca is a voracious reader and particularly enjoys poetry, eighteenth century literature, and women’s history. She also has a soft spot for genre fiction, especially science-fiction, fantasy, and Georgian romances. She is the proud mom to a chubby chihuahua and a very grumpy cat.

She blogs about ministry, faith, literature, and disability awareness at Beckie Writes.

Twitter @BeckiewWrites

To Buy UK-https://www.amazon.com/Through-My-Good-Eye-Memoir/dp/1790358930

To Buy US-https://www.amazon.com/Through-My-Good-Eye-Memoir-ebook/dp/B07L5ZP632