Brown Skin Bruises is a collection of poetry and prose pieces exploring mental illness in the black community. Using diary entries as a basis, the poems use raw personal experiences to give an honest portrayal of emotional struggles. Touching on heartbreak, depression and PTSD, this collection reflects the current mental health crisis and shows the importance of sharing emotions rather than supressing them. There is hope with poems exploring the power of self-expression for emotional healing, and the journey of working towards self-love and developing a sense of self-worth. Brown Skin Bruises shows how poetry can be a therapeutic exercise for both writer and reader.