The Moon's Eye

Sheila grew up with two sisters and a brother. They shared their lives with the ghosts of her mother's three siblings all of whom died tragically, one as a baby, one at the age of four and the last, her mother's brother, at the age of 18. Sheila's family moved every 2-3 years as diplomatic families are required to do. As a result, she spent, off and on, most of her childhood living in Holland, going to a Dutch school. She learned a 2nd language, learned to monitor her speech because of her father's work, and lived in a culture where her mother's intense grief was not treated as it would be today. Sheila's main outlet became her poems which detail how tragic experiences and debilitating grief, when untreated, have the power to damage following generations. This collection of poems reveals how it is possible to grow from the darkness of turmoil towards the light, but life is complicated, and darkness and light intermingle, coloring one another. This collection is about feeling and being unseen. The poems aim to evoke a sense of what it feels like to be unseen, even emotionally banished. The poems move as the poet does, towards feeling seen. Sheila does not presume that her experience has been the same for everyone but hopes, while respecting individual journeys, that her work resonates with others.