Mastering the Art of Being Broken, a Lyric Memoir in Poems and Prose - Paperback

What does it mean to survive what was never meant to be carried?

In Mastering the Art of Being Broken, therapist and poet Lee Erickson explores grief, family, shame, identity, loss, and the complicated work of healing. Drawing from personal experience-including the suicide of a brother, the challenges of growing up gay in a small Midwestern town, and a lifetime of navigating family trauma-these poems and prose reflections examine the wounds we inherit, the stories we tell ourselves, and the resilience required to keep moving forward.

Blending the intimacy of memoir with the emotional power of poetry, Mastering the Art of Being Broken is a lyric memoir that traces one man's journey through loss, estrangement, self-discovery, and renewal. Through vivid storytelling and emotional honesty, Erickson explores the ways grief reshapes us, how shame takes root in families and communities, and how healing often emerges not through perfection, but through compassion, connection, and acceptance.

The collection moves from childhood experiences of invisibility and misunderstanding, through family conflict and personal loss, into the aftermath of suicide, grief, and the difficult process of rebuilding a meaningful life. Along the way, readers encounter stories of survival, forgiveness, therapy, friendship, resilience, and the transformative power of writing.

By turns heartbreaking, reflective, and hopeful, these poems and essays speak to anyone who has experienced loss, questioned their worth, struggled to belong, or searched for meaning in difficult circumstances. Erickson offers no easy answers, but instead invites readers to sit with life's complexities and discover that brokenness is not the opposite of wholeness-it is often part of being fully human.

For readers of contemporary poetry, memoir, grief literature, LGBTQ literature, and books about healing and personal growth, Mastering the Art of Being Broken offers a moving meditation on survival, love, family, and the courage to remain open-hearted in a wounded world.

A powerful debut lyric memoir about grief, resilience, identity, healing, and the enduring hope that can emerge from even life's deepest fractures.