Like smoke billowing through lamplit nights, these verses trace the shadows of our deepest wounds and brightest hopes. We are all beamer boys and northern stars, searching for direction in the haze of uncertainty, stumbling through the cracks of concrete dreams. This collection holds within its pages the story of hearts that dare to shatter, only to find their worth in the breaking.

The chrysoberyl stone whispers secrets of our nature—how we, like this rare gem, transform beneath different lights, showing new faces with each turning. Some days we're opaque with grief, others we shine with pristine clarity. When light passes through chrysoberyl, it splits and shifts, creating different colors from different angles—much like how our experiences shape us, split us, and show us new versions of ourselves we never knew existed. We are all gems being cut by time, by love, by loss, displaying new facets of our soul with every wound and every healing.

Through these thirteen glimpses into the soul, we witness a journey of transformation—from the first flutter of chance encounters to the hollow echoes of empty rooms, from the piercing clarity of loss to the gentle whisper of acceptance. Each poem is a precious stone wrapped in glass, waiting to break open and reveal its truth. Some nights we are the ones holding the hammer; other nights, we are the ones being struck.

These words flow like rivers seeking oceans, like trains departing from stations of certainty into the unknown. They speak to those who have ever stood at bus stops dreaming of mountaintops, to those who have painted their highest hopes on wooden floors and wooden doors. Within these pages, you'll find yourself in the space between concrete and stars, between the mundane and the magnificent. For in the end, we are all just trying to be seen, trying to find our way back to that eternal "sha la la" that echoes through the chambers of our hearts.

Released January 10, 2025.