Skulls and Hibiscus

invites those affected by mental health struggles on a journey of self-reflection. These poems serve as a guide to rediscovery within oneself. By acknowledging the validity of readers' feelings, this collection will ease hopeless romantics, people-pleasers, and over-thinkers, while exploring the intersection of love, mental health, and pop culture. In these poems, Heather Vazquez works her way through the loss of a beloved family member, struggles with mental illness, embraces romance and friendship, and fights to survive in a world that focuses on screen time over time spent with friends and family. With the divide growing ever larger with each passing day, these poems help to remind readers that it's important to speak up about how they're feeling-expose their pain, and to find comfort in the people around them. Her hope for this collection is to help the reader to discover their own voice, face their demons head on, release what is held in the heart, and find their inner light.