- Life, death, love, and hope are themes addressed by the Cuban Ecuadorian author in her works, captured in two books that have been very well received by the public.
Good books go straight to the heart. The readings that make us rethink the world change our inner landscape and stay with us for a long time. The poems reflected in the books “42 Poems, is all about the context” and “One frame at a time with Awareness” are a direct passage to a universe that explores love, loss, and the resolution to move forward despite the pain. Written by Maura Abad, both poetry collections have resonated with a significant group of readers, who see themselves reflected in the images created by the author to express universal feelings that we can all recognize.
Maura Abad was born in Cuba and grew up in Ecuador, a background that has given her a broad and rich identity, with multiple nuances for appreciating the world and understanding and expressing the complexity of human feelings. In her first book of poems, “42 Poems, is all about the context,” the author presents the public with a work that arose from the loss of a loved one. These are 42 poems written over several years, which matured enough to become a book.
Maura explains that the poems emerged as a way of coping with the pain after her father’s death in 2021, but they are also a celebration of life, a tribute to the experiences shared with her father, and a showcase of his legacy: a passion for writing. “It’s easy to identify with this book, because we’ve all faced some kind of loss in life. But I also want it to be something hopeful, a reminder that life goes on, and that the best way to honor our loved ones is to work to become our best selves, a little bit every day,” she says.
One frame at a time with Awareness: pain as fuel or the alchemy of the soul
In this second book, the author follows the creative line of the first, exploring pain but also the desire to turn that pain into a reason to move forward. The delicate alchemy of turning tears and emptiness into the fuel that drives the mechanisms of life reminds us (once again) of the therapeutic power of art and the transformative capacity of beauty.
For Maura, these poems are like postcards, sent to the world from different parts of her soul. Each card is a snapshot of different angles of her own life, which also reveal the strength and psychological reserves that love provides, that remembering is also finding inspiration in the past, and that the beauty of life is revealed in different ways: in nature, in the love of her pets (Maura is the owner of three adorable furry friends), in the company of a loved one, in the healing power of music, or in the desire to help others beyond our own interests.
More than 400 poems make up Maura Abad’s prolific work, a few of which are collected in these books, which seek to synthesize the clarity and awareness of existence that appear after transformative events, such as loss and pain. They are also a celebration of the joy of living, of the inspiration that comes from immersing oneself in life and living every second as a gift.
Poetry has the gift of connecting people because it uses a language that every soul can recognize. Readers will undoubtedly find echoes of themselves in these books, gifts that remind us that in this world we will also find beauty and goodness, and that poetry will always be there to remind us of this.
