Book Review - Michele Matthews' Confessions of a Beautiful Woman

No...

This isn't a post about Usher...

I was trying to download the cover to Michele Matthews Confessions of A Beautiful Woman, and Blogger wasn't having it...

Ya'll know how bi-yotchy Blogger gets sometimes!

So I went and got the next best thing... Usher's Confessions album (or poster)...

Close your eyes and imagine a woman sitting there instead, looking all thoughtful, like she has some confessions she's just gotta get out...

Okay, back to the discussion at hand...

I attended a reading in early February given by none other than novelist Pearl Cleage. I am a big fan of her books, as I have read them all, sometimes twice, but this particular reading wasn't from her novels...

It was a reading of some of her essays and one of her poems.

Pearl spoke of her thoughts and feelings on different subject matters...

I, Ladylee, found all of this a bit intriguing... and I wanted to find more books by women expressing their thoughts and feelings on various topics in the form of essays and poetry.

So when Michelle Matthews (blogger name: "Chele"; blog: "Forty Something") made a quick announcement in a blog post that she would be releasing a book of poetry and essays titled Confessions of a Beautiful Woman, I thought to myself...

I gotta get THAT when it comes OUT!

Because if it was as emotionally charged as her "Forty Something"blog... Oh my!

I mean I absolutely LOVE her blog... She puts all her feelings out there on the table, something that I myself RARELY do at this spot. (No, I don't like getting spanked by ya'll for having a few feelings different from the norm! I choose to go blog out of control in the comment sections of other bloggers instead...)

One day she's happy... Another day, there is sadness. Another day we see her spirituality. Then another day she's pissed off. Another day, she's questioning her feelings about certain things she's facing in life...

All and all, she makes this Oldgirl say...

"Damn, I feel that way sometimes! Thought I was the only one to ever feel that way."

Humph...

She's a whisper away from being handed her Original Oldgirl platinum card, good worldwide...

*Ladylee frantically searching her pockets for an extra Original Oldgirl platinum card*

Alright, I am straying away from the subject. This is suppose to be a review of her book of Essays and Poetry, Confessions of a Beautiful Woman.

I can't find just one word to describe this wonderful collection.

I can find a few words, though: amazing, beautiful, poignant, painful, pure, thoughtful...

But most of all... honest.

She really put her whole self out there with this collection of over 30 poems and essays. I could write a post on how each one touched me. I really could.

That would be 30 posts... That would be a bit too much...

So I will talk about those poems and essays that had the most profound effect on me....

I loved the poem "The Struggle", especially because of it's deep spiritual overtones. Michele breaks down, in a few words, the struggles we all deal with: struggling because of our prideful ways, struggling deep down in our spirits, the constant struggle within ourselves and with our raging emotions.

Shoot, this poem made me realize and take stock of how much I've been struggling internally over a few things... I had one of those moments where I thought...

"Damn, I thought I was alone in feeling this way."

I enjoyed the essay "10 Things I Wish Mom had Told Me". This essay brought a whole 'nother meaning to that old cliche "Hindsight is 20/20". Heck, I must have read this essay a good ten times. It was that much on point. Two of the 10 "things" resonated strongly with me...

#10 Don't give your heart away to someone you aren't sure will take care of it.

#4 Develop a relationship with God, before you try to have one with a man.

You got that right...

Geeeezzz.... could've saved myself A WHOLE LOT OF HEARTACHE if I knew THAT!!

Outstanding in it's concept is the essay titled "Patience". Michele breaks up all the familiar cliches (Patience is a virtue, Everything in due time, etc.) and brings home the point that developing in patience only makes one stronger.

Now there is one poem, "Just Wastin' Time", that felt like the author took off her cutesy high heels and strapped on a pair of fresh Timbalands, grabbed a mike, and completely goes off on some young knucklehead who tries to peep a lame game to her... She tells him in, uh, so many words, not to waste her time... I was waiting for a hard 808 bass beat to jump off the page when I was reading that one! Oh my!

What I love most is how she ended the book: with several beautiful love poems. It was as if, throughout the beginning and middle of the book, she took me through a huge gamut of emotions, and then at the end, she brought me in for a real soft landing...

Yet again, making me feel like...

"Damn, I've sho nuff felt like THAT before!!"

The author does an exceptional job through such an eclectic mix of poetry, essays and random thoughts, expressing her anger, joy, regret, grief, love, sensibility, contentment, sadness, and passion... all of which, I've come to understand, from her confessions, gives a woman her beauty.
Such strong confessions they were...

Such strong confessions straight from the heart of a beautiful woman indeed.

Now, I downloaded this book... but after reading it a few times?

I need a hardcopy for my bookshelf!!

Go check it out... you'll love it!