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Amber Whitted is a gifted author and performing artist from Chicago's southern suburbs. Inspired by family to develop her gifts at an early age, she has filled multiple journals with her personal poetic thoughts. "It is my goal to tell our stories in a way that uplifts and tells the honest truth. We are a people with a rich heritage and amazing stories; it's time we hear them in a positive light."
Lessons On Virtually Everything (LOVE): A Collection of Words and Thoughts, Volume IV is Ms. Whitted's fourth book of poetry. Pulling from past and present experiences, this collection is a reminder that everything in life comes down to one important word - love.
In Ms. Whitted's own words: "Somewhere along the line, we placed limits on what love truly means. Love is so much more than romantic relationships or the feeling we get when we “fall in love”. It should be the root of all that we do. “Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (1 Corinthians 13:7). When given to self first, love can’t help but flow into each life we touch."
Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
L.O.V.E.: Lessons On Virtually Everything by Amber Whitted is the fourth volume of the poet's A Collection of Words and Thoughts series. The titular acronym is the perfect descriptor of both the size, strength, and theme of the work itself. Whitted has organized her original pieces into five distinct parts. These include View From My Front Porch, Everything He Needs to Know, More Than One Meaning, I'm Fine... and Other Lies I've Told, and She Follows the Light of the Sun. All told, Whitted gifts us with over fifty profoundly raw and deeply introspective works of open form, free verse poetry. Each varies in length and tone, from the short and punchy Braggin' with its opening, “Marvelous melanin. Talent trendsettin'.”, to the effigy of a relationship that cannot be described as anything but predestined, even when it ends, in the poem titled Serendipity.
The piece in Amber Whitted's L.O.V.E.: Lessons On Virtually Everything that really pierced my soul is Me At 40. The theme of self-love comes up in other beautiful moments of Whitted's compilation but it is this one that reaches into the heart of a woman who is at a stage in her life where there is an assuredness that solidifies all of it. Each line had me nodding 'YES!' as I ate cookies in bed at 7 pm on a Saturday night. Whitted is talented, that is undeniable. What makes her special is that she is totally relatable. There will be 'yes' moments for everyone, whether you are fully ready to be wrapped up in the words and wisdom of God, embraced by or gently pushing back a lover, or rediscovering yourself after being lost accommodating someone else. Everyone else. I can close comfortably here with Whitted's own words from the poem Freedom, which she says came “...by lifting the veil of fear, peace gladly lent an ear when she said “Yes” to herself.” Very highly recommended.
