She Said!

By Helen Kitilla

In the end, life is but memories of time. The time we are given to form these memories are very limited. Yet, most of us get stuck in our loop of beliefs, thoughts, and actions, that we write and rewrite the same story, with the same ink. And at the end, we realize our life is not the story we hoped to read, or it is just a page in an otherwise empty book.  

This poetry book reflects life that resonates with most of us. It is a book that attempts to see and review each life through each own lens. To embrace growth through failure, to learn from mistakes, to champion self-acceptance and self-love, to embrace our differences and to accept change. It is a book of awareness of self and others. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jun 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886936285

Helen Kitilla

Helen Kitilla was born and raised in Ethiopia. She currently lives in the United States with her family. She has a graduate degree from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, U.S.A. Helen has traveled to many countries around the world and has lived in South Africa, Kenya, UK, and the United States of America. Helen believes her experiences at different points in her life provided her with great exposure and valuable lessons to see, understand, and embrace a much bigger, complex, and more diverse world. She continues to learn and grow from her failures, her successes, and all that lies in between.

Book preview

About the Author

Helen Kitilla was born and raised in Ethiopia. She currently lives in the United States with her family. She has a graduate degree from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, U.S.A.

Helen has traveled to many countries around the world and has lived in South Africa, Kenya, UK, and the United States of America.

Helen believes her experiences at different points in her life provided her with great exposure and valuable lessons to see, understand, and embrace a much bigger, complex, and more diverse world. She continues to learn and grow from her failures, her successes, and all that lies in between.

Dedication

To Dr. Mestawet Edjigu

For a life well lived and a legacy left behind.

Copyright Information ©

Helen Kitilla 2023

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Ordering Information

Quantity sales: Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Kitilla, Helen

She Said!

ISBN 9798886936261 (Paperback)

ISBN 9798886936278 (Hardback)

ISBN 9798886936285 (ePub e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023905410

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published 2023

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street, 33rd Floor, Suite 3302

New York, NY 10005

USA

[e-mail]

[phone]

20230623

Acknowledgment

Thank you!

To my husband, Tenbite Ermias, for your encouragement and support.

To my daughters, Anania and Noella, for teaching me unconditional love in its purest form.

To Tah and Omid for that first boost of confidence.

To all my families and friends.

Introduction

Poetry is the dispersed fragments of life. It is the collection of these fragments as seen, heard, felt and lived by life’s ordinaries that births the colorful stories of poetry.

We all carry poetry, like a fetus in the womb. The when, the how, the where, to give birth to our poetry, depends on our awareness and the realization of self, time, and of our journey through it all.

In today’s world, the life we create is busy with noises, busy with echoes, and busy trying to reach one destination after next. We live life without the realization that we are living it. We get swayed left and right by the many noises around us, urging us to go here and there. Yet, our forgotten inner soul is yearning for silence, craving to map its own road towards its own destination.

As an African woman, I lived most of my life with noises so loud, I could not hear myself. My ears, like many others, have been conditioned to filter noises that matter and magnify the ones that don’t. The screaming silence of my true self was so loud, it was indeed deafening.

My poetry was born when I decided to tune out the distracting noises and collect all my