New · Early 2027
a collection of poems by Cece
“Rose from the soil I was pushed under.”
Cece Once Said is a debut collection of 84 poems, written from the other side of the darkest years of a young life. Moving through seven sections, from roots and inheritance, through confinement, love and ruin, descent, grief and loss, to grace and return, Cece writes about depression, self-harm, family, first love and grief with unflinching honesty and a stubborn search for light.
Written between childhood notebooks and engineering lectures, these poems hold softness and fire side by side: the tenderness of someone who sees good in people, and the ache of someone who has carried more than she should. It is a book for anyone fighting an invisible battle, and for anyone who loves someone who is.
To those with an invisible battle, you are very much seen.
We rose from the same soil, you and I.I despise all that you are.Vicariously, through me, you climbed closer to the sun.You watched while I reached — thinner and thinner —burned at the edges as I leaned toward light.You became an observer; I became ash.
We tried to nurture the same ground and failed.Maybe it’s impossible to grow away from what you taught me,while they feed me with the very soil you once tried to bury me under.
rest.That, too,is a kind of resistance.
“A deeply moving collection that doesn’t just touch your heart — it stays with you, echoing the unspoken truths we all carry.”
