In this raw and unflinching collection of poems, Eric Michael Grant lays bare a lifetime of wounds, survival, and hope. Spanning the turbulent streets of the Bronx during the 1980s and 1990s, to his adult years elsewhere, these poems confront the painful realities of growing up amidst poverty, violence, and a mother's battle with drug addiction. Eric invites readers into moments both deeply personal and universally human: the ache of a broken home, the bittersweet memories of first loves gone wrong, and the desperate search for identity and belonging. This collection is a celebration of vulnerability, an unfiltered journey through the darkness toward something like healing. The Beginning.