To struggle, to endure, and still speak of it-not every voice dares such honesty. Patrick Carlson, in his inspirational book of poems, The 2nd Year, bears the quiet weight of his emotions, reflections, and the shadows that marked his life's journey.
He carries the ache of illness, the pulse of memory, and the search for meaning in all the chaos. Each poem lingers as both confession and companion, a reminder that pain, when named, becomes something more than despair.

To write was to survive, and to survive was to remember