Just Breathe ― Take Life As If It??Borrowed; God Never Promised You Tomorrow

Just Breathe is a composition of many diverse poems directed to withstand life stressors and face emotional taboos. This book is designed to paint a picture of endless emotions that we experience daily. Some may find this book exhilarating, and some may see it as liberating to correlate what one feels but is unable to speak out loud. We experience so much in our short lives that breathing sometimes becomes almost impossible. This book was written with the intention to explore those deep emotions and put clarity to what seems unbearable. 

Due to unfortunate circumstances—whether natural disasters or self-created chaos—we may feel as if our lungs have been taken hostage, leaving us fighting for air. Just Breathe shows the battles we all face in life and the beauty of our strength when we stand tall and selfishly fight for our will to breathe.

Esmeralda Murati was born in Albania but raised in the Bronx. She got her bachelor of arts degree from Lehman College and her masters degree in social work at Fordham University. Esmeralda works as a school social worker in an elementary school in the Bronx. She works with students struggling with various disabilities and/or a mental health illness. She has been writing since middle school, when she barely knew how to speak English. Esmeralda has embraced the idea of free writing as a therapeutic tool to overcome, express, and explain daily stressors.

Just Breathe is Esmeralda’s writing debut. She has used her past experiences of the many struggles she faced as a foreigner, such as bullying and rejection, to create the stories in her book. Esmeralda has overcome much internal pain through her writing and hopes that others will relate and embrace poetry as an emotional, beautiful mess.