Deep Rest: Poetry from a Healing Mind

Deep Rest: Poetry from a Healing Mind is a poetry collection by Brandon Karl Hoffmann that meets you exactly where you are. Born from journal entries, late-night voice memos, and drafted emails written to no one, these poems capture the lived reality of mental health challenges - the intrusive thoughts, the numbness, the grief, and the fragile, stubborn desire to stay. Organized into six intimate sections, the book moves through the quieter, harder corners of the mind - depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, emotional disregulation - before opening outward into the complicated territory of relationships, caregiving, loss, and ultimately, love and belonging.
The final poems arrive not as resolution, but as proof: connection is possible, and it is worth working toward. Hoffmann writes in accessible poetry and lyric prose that speaks plainly about experiences many people carry in silence. Deep Rest is for readers drawn to confessional poetry, mental health memoirs, and emotionally honest writing - for anyone who has sat in a crowded room and felt entirely invisible, or who has wanted to say something true and couldn't find the words.
This is a book about surviving. And about what makes surviving worth it.