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Book excerpt: "I Am Maria" by Maria Shriver
Book excerpt: "I Am Maria" by Maria Shriver

CBS News

time28-03-2025

  • Entertainment
  • CBS News

Book excerpt: "I Am Maria" by Maria Shriver

We may receive an affiliate commission from anything you buy from this article. In her new memoir, "I Am Maria: My Reflections and Poems on Heartbreak, Healing, and Finding Your Way Home" (to be published April 1 by The Open Field), Maria Shriver – the daughter of Kennedys, broadcast journalist, and former first lady of California – uses poetry to explore a woman in search of herself. Read some selected poems below, and don't miss Lee Cowan's interview with Maria Shriver on "CBS Sunday Morning" February 23! "I Am Maria" by Maria Shriver Prefer to listen? Audible has a 30-day free trial available right now. Beyond a shadow Beyond the words Beyond the picture of what a loving nurturing mother Is supposed to look like Act like Talk like Touch like There is you I couldn't find anyone like you in my picture books No mothers looked like you Dressed in pants like you Had hair like you Played football like you Smoked cigars like you Yet I knew you loved me I knew you wanted more for me than you had been given I knew you wanted for me everything you had been denied Beyond a shadow I know you loved me The way you smiled at me and cheered for me The way you pushed me I know you loved me Do you know how much I loved you Beyond a shadow you were my everything I understand so much more about you today You too were scared You too longed to be seen You too longed to be held My heart breaks for you As I've come to learn we cannot give what wasn't given to us As you grew older you softened You allowed me in My heart breaks for my mother But no one let her in But no one held her No one comforted her No one told her she was enough Her journey was relentless Her energy unbridled I understand now and I'm so sorry Beyond a shadow I know you loved me Beyond a shadow I loved you I've been wanting to talk to you lately to tell you You are not what I planned You may not give a damn but I thought you should know You are not what I expected I thought as long as I had my compass pointing north All would be good But I learned that my heart doesn't know north My life has led me on a path written in invisible ink Longing for more from a soul I didn't know yet So here we are Life Without a compass without a map Only my heart guiding me forward It wonders Am I ready to be known in a new and deep way? Am I strong enough to open my heart and divulge what lies within? Life you say that's what you are all about Let's see how the universe responds When I pull back the curtain on my soul They are everywhere The fragments of me In the closet in the drawer in the ceiling looking down The fragments of me are all over the land They are in Chicago In Maryland In the hall at my school In my bedroom Where I broke into two What about you Are you shattered Are you fragmented In pieces as well Is your life here on earth A heaven or hell Do you vacillate Between power and impotence Wanting nothing or wanting it all Do you stare down on yourself dissociated from life When you close your eyes do you pray for the relief of a knife Tell me tell me Are you the coward the hero a player of hearts Do you know who you are or have you vanished from your life Stand up show yourself stop hiding here and there Go pick up the pieces They're everywhere It's a mess it's a shambles You are here and you are there Don't you see Don't you care that you're everywhere It's up to you Up to you to piece together your life Up to you to make sense Up to you to go back Back to where it began Go back to your birth Go back if you can Go back to Hyannis Go back to your room Go back Tell him you know and no longer feel shame Tell her you love her and pray for her pain Go back pick up the pieces Make yourself whole Go back to the fragments They're the key to your soul Excerpted from "I Am Maria" by Maria Shriver, published by The Open Field, an imprint of Penguin Life, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2025 by Maria Shriver. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Get the book here: "I Am Maria" by Maria Shriver Buy locally from For more info:

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