[POETRY + NARCISSISTIC COMMENTARY]

FOREWORD

Alessia Brio often purchases journals. In her own words: I never mar them with ink. Blank, they're pure potential. I like 'em that way.

I am tempted to leave the rest of this page blank for that exact reason, as I am wary of pinning words to the person and therefore limiting your experience of who she is and what she offers in this poetry collection. Having said that, I am absolutely honoured that she has asked me to write this foreword, as I have been a great fan and follower of her work for years.

Editor, cover artist, and author—both solo, and collaboratively with Will Belegon. Whichever medium she chooses to creatively self-express in, she is an example of someone who deeply experiences life on the tight-rope of universal balance between head and heart. Her work is soul satisfying and reflects the honesty of emotion that we so often shy away from. She consistently articulates through beautiful thought-provoking metaphor.

If her poems were of the natural world, I would liken them to fractals. Alessia introduced me to the phenomena of fractals, which can often be found in clouds, lightning bolts, coastlines, and snow flakes. Derived from the Latin word fractus meaning "broken" or "fractured," fractals look similar at all levels of magnification, though they are normally infinitely complex. At their core, you will find intricate, often repeating patterns that are useful as a way of predicting what may at first seem like the unpredictable.

She writes seamlessly, though the fibre from which her work is created is saturated by deep-seated feeling and meaning. The fabric that her work weaves serves many purposes other than being magnificent prose.

We thank all deities that she did not choose to act towards her Word documents as she has towards her journals, and that she has chosen to beautifully "mar" these pages with her ink and grace us with her poetry.

~ Vana Lafayette