Growing Pains

Join the Journey from Darkness to Light


“A torrent raw and unabashed collection. Poems about the ability to breathe, unfair victimization, and the Black Lives Matter movement are executed with force. Some of his other abstract explorations of sin, self-worth, justice, and guilt are evocative and timely for today's readers, binding relevant social issues with tough moral questions. There are few poets who simultaneously experiment with their art and unpack all of their deepest secrets on the page, and Evan McMillan is one of them, in this evocative collection of struggle and survival.” — Self-Publishing Review, ★★★★

For many of us, life feels like an illness before a diagnosis. It can be stained by pain and dysfunction, discarded as ugly and without purpose.
Evan McMillan can relate. In his first volume of poetry in the RAW MIND series, McMillan expresses the darkness of life before the diagnosis — and reveals the hope with the prescription. Presenting both prose and directives, Growing Pains explores the painful, untidy paths of the heart while remaining in the firm boundaries of truth.


Themes along the journey include:


AwarenessTransitionStruggleUnintendedDysfunctionWorthGrowthThe MonsterMental WorkOvercomingLove LifeThe Blessing and the CurseFree MeResolutions

Accept this honest invitation to climb through darkness and discover hope.


«This is not to teach you, but you can learn.
This is not to change you, but you can gain perspective.
This may not show you the way, but I hope you find it.
I'm not saying everything will be alright, but I hope you believe it will be.”


— Evan McMillan