Artwork on Mind's Canvas: An Illustrated Book of Poetry - Hardcover

by Shelley Ann Vrgleski (Author)

Artwork on Mind's Canvas is an illustrated poetry collection that explores emotional experience through language, form, and image.

Structured in three movements-Pain, Pleasure, and Thought-the book traces an inward journey rather than a linear narrative. Early poems confront grief, mental struggle, addiction, and loss with unflinching honesty. The middle section turns toward connection, sensuality, nature, and myth, offering moments of embodiment and relief. The final movement settles into brief, reflective forms-haiku and pared-down verse-that observe impermanence, awareness, and quiet insight.

Each poem is paired with hand-drawn illustration, creating a dialogue between word and image. Some pieces are raw and unsettling; others are tender, playful, or spare. Together, they form a mosaic of emotional states rather than a single conclusion.

This collection does not offer instruction or affirmation. Instead, it invites the reader to linger with feeling, to recognize fragments of their own inner landscape, and to sit with what arises.