She dedicates the book "for all who believe in the power of words and their potential to heal." Tears for Water is a combination poetry slam and lyric collection, with what Alicia calls her most delicate thoughts, some originally written for her eyes only.

She's poured through her journals and notebooks to share lots of her early prose, never recorded, plus we're given the full lyrics to all of the tunes in "Songs in A Minor," and "The Diary of Alicia Keys."

We don't get a timeline of when each item was written, but part of the fun in reading through the material is guessing at what stage of her life she put her thoughts on paper. One assumes that with more maturity comes more emotional depth in expressing feelings.

Alicia does provide some background information after certain poems, letting us know all about themes and characters.

Here's an excerpt from a longer piece she calls "Everywhere is Nowhere:"

"I've made my home in many places

From New York streets and subway seats

to London's cold and foggy sleets

From hotel rooms in the biggest suites

to motels sick with dirty sheets

In smoky clubs, that barely fit 104

to the largest stage of screaming more!

I've slept quite hard on buses and trains

with daily trips on wide-winged planes

and some days I've often felt very strange

cause something's missing..."

These are strong images from the mind of Alicia Keys. Tears for Water is a national bestseller, and an intimate look into the heart of a talented writer - performer.