Introduction

Some things don't leave you. They become part of you.

Despite Everything, Here I Am is a collection of poetry about love, grief, anxiety, heartbreak, anger, survival, and the pieces of ourselves we lose along the way.

These poems weren't written from the other side of healing. They were written in the middle of it-in the moments when everything hurt, when nothing made sense, and when simply continuing felt like an act of defiance.

This isn't a story about coming out untouched.
It's about being changed by everything that tried to break you-and still being able to say:

Despite everything, here I am.