Excoriation is an honest, thought-provoking exploration via poetry, into motherhood, relationships, heartache, love, and the cosmos. Rebecca Smolen shares her experiences in a way that’s meant to dig a little deeper, delving into each wound until nothing but truth remains. Through evocative metaphor and verse, Smolen challenges her readers to let these poems get under their skin, even if it hurts a little, for this is where healing begins.

In this intricate dance with words, Rebecca leaves us wrapped in possibilities of what love looks like in self and the love tango with others. -Nastashia Minto, Poet/Author of Naked

Rebecca Smolen’s Excoriation is part declaration and part dream of a travel in the honesties of existence. -John Miller, founder of Portland Ars Poetica

In rich language and provocative shapes, her poems are generous acts, each a form of healing, to fall first, / to shine… to know how to rain, their purpose to ease another’s pain. Read these brave poems to understand that the world is merely attempting to find its own way back through the mystery and science of this writer’s voice. -Kate Gray, author of Carry the Sky