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by Nyah Seraphine (Author)
Unshackled: Poems of Fire and Rising is a powerful collection of contemporary poetry that traces the journey from breaking to becoming, from inherited wounds to reclaimed power, from survival to sovereignty.
Through poems of memory, resistance, grief, love, rage, healing, faith, and spiritual awakening, Nyah Seraphine gives voice to experiences that are both deeply personal and profoundly collective. Rooted in the lived realities of Black womanhood, these poems confront the weight of history while celebrating the resilience, creativity, wisdom, beauty, and sacred fire that endure across generations.
Organized into six sections-The Breaking, The Burning, The Reckoning, Release, Rising, and Kept-the collection follows a deliberate emotional and spiritual arc. The poems examine childhood wounds, family dynamics, identity, racism, inherited narratives, collective trauma, ancestral memory, womanhood, and the lifelong process of returning to oneself. They ask difficult questions about truth, justice, belonging, and the stories people carry about themselves and others.
Throughout the collection, the personal and the collective intertwine. A young girl refuses to accept the names placed upon her. A mother wrestles with fear for her Black son. Women confront expectations of endless strength and sacrifice. Communities reckon with histories of oppression, erasure, and survival. Yet these poems are not defined by suffering. They are equally concerned with healing, remembrance, self-definition, spiritual transformation, and the reclamation of joy.
Drawing upon themes of Black history, ancestral wisdom, faith, liberation, identity, and collective healing, Unshackled invites readers to release what was never theirs to carry and reclaim what has always belonged to them: dignity, humanity, memory, voice, and power.
At its heart, this is a book about remembering. Remembering one's worth. Remembering one's inheritance. Remembering the sacred light that exists beneath every label, wound, and limitation.
For readers of contemporary poetry, Black literature, women's literature, inspirational poetry, spiritual poetry, and works centered on resilience, empowerment, healing, and self-discovery, Unshackled offers both witness and affirmation.
Part of the Gathering Series, this collection speaks from the place where silence ends and sovereignty begins. It is a testament to endurance, a declaration of freedom, and a celebration of the fire that remains when everything false has fallen away.
