An Ordinary Childhood (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798309487943)

An Ordinary Childhood, a collection of poetry and stories by Eugene Coco, delivers a candid snapshot of what it felt like to come of age in Brooklyn in the 60s and 70s. Coco, a child of divorced parents who both suffered greatly from depression, shares his own struggles with depression and making a meaningful life for himself, as he delves into the events in his past that continue to haunt him--and nurture him--as an adult. Employing stream of consciousness, memoir, prose poetry, and experimental form, Coco openly offers the stories of his childhood, along with all of the raw emotion they entail, so others may realize they need not remain bound by the events of their past as they learn to live more fully and openly in the present. Honest, humorous, illustrative, and hopeful, An Ordinary Childhood reckons with all the events that shape who we are; and exemplifies that with awareness, objectivity, and above all, compassion for ourselves, we can ultimately find the peace we all so desperately long for and deserve.