Some things are written to be found.
Karen A. Irizarry never set out to be published. She set out to feel something — and then she wrote it down. In notebooks, on loose paper, across nearly a decade of her life that no one outside of it ever fully saw.
Seventy poems. Love and longing, rivers and seasons, the particular ache of growing up, the stubborn persistence of hope. Written between 1978 and 1987. Kept in private all the years between then and now.
"Make it known to the Sun, keep no secrets from the Moon;
Tell it to the special one, that it's simply too soon."
— from "Water Line," 1982
Her daughter found them. She read every one. And she decided the world deserved to read them too.
A page from inside.
My heart cries for you when I'm alone,
And my soul will wait for you,
Because you are my special one,
and yours is the only touch I feel,
and dance to; your fire melts me.
You've given my life tenderness and
meaning, and my eyes are like stars
because of your love.
To be held by you is like magic; a
dream that can't ever die,
And your kiss is like fire; that burns
right through me, leaving me hunger
inside.
I'm a little scared of growing older
but if you were with me we could
help each other through the rough
times, and we would never get
lost along the way.
I will always
Love You Rudy.
Karen
Seventy poems. One decade. One voice.
Karen did not write for publication. She wrote because she had to. That honesty is on every page.
Love Without Filter
Poems written to "Rudy" — unguarded, raw, and achingly specific in the way only real love is. Not romantic gestures. The actual thing, felt at full volume.
The Natural World
Rivers, roads, seasons, and the quiet intelligence of the physical world. Karen returned to nature the way some writers return to metaphor — because it was the most honest language available.
A Voice Finding Itself
These poems span her teenage years through her late twenties. They document not just what she felt, but how her thinking sharpened and deepened into something worth preserving.
The word is getting out.
Early copies are being shared. Reactions will appear here as they come in. In the meantime — read the poems yourself and see what they do to you.
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Additional Poems
Poems from the original transcription that didn't make the final print edition — not because they were weaker, but because the book needed to breathe. Subscribers get them.
Newsletter exclusiveThe Story Behind the Book
How Angela found the poems, how the transcription happened, and what it felt like to read your mother's inner life across seventy handwritten pages. A story worth knowing.
Newsletter exclusiveNotes on the Poems
Context for the poems that came with dates and references. What was happening in 1982 when "My Special One" was written. What the Cleveland Metroparks looked like then.
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