Georgia's DAM

By Erika Renee Land

Life often leads us to different places, and while we are physically in those places, we tend to adapt emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, while taking on the life of that environment.
After a deployment to Mosul, Iraq and everything about her life changed, Erika Land found a way to ease her mind and combat the daily stresses of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder by writing poetry. Georgia's DAM takes us on a journey up the Blue Ridge Mountains, through Bulldog Nation, then to the Home of Southern Rock, as an American Veteran finds herself again through poetry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ezarie Publishing
• Release date: Sep 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9780985283674

Book preview

FOREWORD

When I initially moved to Georgia, I did so to be closer to my family and to attend the University of Georgia. What I didn’t know was that Georgia would be the perfect place for me to decompress and heal after being discharged from the Army.

While stationed in Washington D.C., I was diagnosed with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, but the effects of the disorder did not fully manifest until after I decompressed, and my anger subsided. Anger was the only emotion registering on my emotional odometer, so I did not fully understand just how much I’d changed upon returning from Iraq.

Each of these cities—Dahlonega, Athens, and Macon—contains a hideaway I fell in love with. Each hideaway became an emotional dam for me. I was able to bottle my emotion into little packets of poetry while grounding and centering myself again. I believe that when things in life become too difficult, being alone and one with nature is therapeutic.

The Oar House in Dahlonega was my first refuge. The cabin sits off the road in the side of a mountain next to the Chestatee River. The restaurant owner would let me sit for hours while I wrote whatever came out. It’s the most peaceful place I’ve ever been.

When I wanted to stay in my host city, Athens, but be out and about, I would people-watch in Two Story Coffeehouse on the eastside of town. Two Story Eastside (I never made it to the Five Points location) is an upbeat, laid-back, college-town coffeehouse. It’s the perfect spot for a college student to visit while doing homework.

When the flurry of PTSD got the best of me and things became too hectic, Grant’s Lounge was my watering hole in Macon. I could slowly sip my drink and write poetry to some of the most eclectic sounds