I'm certainly no poetry expert and I've come to Renae's poetry as an ordinary reader. I was very curious with one of her books titled - "An Encounter" with the theme being Existentialism. What I found was a book that kept me thinking long after I'd put it down. Renae takes the big questions that philosophers like Sartre and Camus wrestled with - what it means to exist, to choose, to become who we are - and gives us her own interpretation through strong rhythm and frequent rhyme. She also uses some fantastic imagery. In "To Be, and How", keeping calm in a crisis becomes "a cup holder for the storm", a small, everyday object holding steady against something enormous. It's the kind of line that stops you mid page. Love it!

This little book is honest, questioning and a little defiant, and if you sit with it, will undoubtedly lead you to question how you live and question your why. Well worth your time.

I had the pleasure of working with the brilliant Renae. I've never been one for poetry but the sincerity I felt in these poems touched me in a new and real way. Her tenacity and openess to share about her life experiences left a mark on me and I hope to work with her again.