“What Breaks Us” by Megan Davis is a cathartic collection of poetry that channels pain and angst into strength for healing and self-discovery. This poetry collection is a candid reflection on heartache, loss, and the difficult work of self-examination to uncover unhealed wounds. With topics ranging from love to spirituality, grief to psychology, Davis’s poetry is an outpouring of emotion that balances the deeply personal with the universality of the human experience.

Davis initially began writing poetry in lieu of journaling, using creative writing as a way to process tumultuous feelings of attraction, loneliness, struggles with mental health, her relationship with spirituality, and the suffering faced by people around the world. She wrote the poems without intending to share them with an audience, and the palpable honesty in each piece of work reflects that intimacy, as well as the author’s approach to poetry as personal catharsis.

As the sections of the collection progress, readers move through phases of the author’s life alongside her, from heartbreak and anger to battles with addiction, through to growing self-acceptance, connection with others, and ultimately, a sense of empowerment built on perseverance and a willingness to engage with pain as a source of strength.

Beautifully written and poignantly capturing the internal battles faced by many, Davis’s poems are a touching portrait of the things that hurt us—and the ways these damaging experiences can be alchemized into sources of hope and growth.