For those that have asked me: "Why write poetry?", I ask: "Why dance?" People dance because their spirit urges them to do so, because they need to express through physical movement the energy that is greater than the body. Poetry is energy released through words, which are as limiting as is our body in its representation of our essence... And yet, sometimes, somehow we manage to convey something far beyond movement and beyond words." The reader will notice an almost split personality that emerges among the different poems. It is not a matter of contradiction, it is not a matter of darkness verses light, it is not even an indecision between the "in your face reality" and ethereal escapades. The truth is that I am a human, struggling, falling, and rising above. It is that which I choose to convey in my poetry. I share with my readers moments of confusion and moments of clarity, because it is the state of confusion which propels the human into a higher clarity. I therefore acknowledge and honor them even when they seem to tear down all the beauty, for when it is all said and done, it was not the beauty that was torn down, it was the belief structure about that beauty that was torn down, that no longer serves. That is the reason why my poetry sometimes needs to spit on the holiest of things, the dearest of things. Only after the belief structure is torn down, are we free to create a new context from which we can understand and appreciate things anew, with a depth and conviction that did not previously exist.This collection of poetry stretches over a time period of fifteen years. It therefore encompasses a wide range of maturity, both personal and poetic, a wide range of perception, states of mind, and spirit. The singular unifying force is the naked honesty with which I chose to present my ideas and myself to the reader.I owe that much to myself and to my reader.My best Wishes, Mina Konstantinovic