Hello! Thank you for reading and supporting my work. I’m honored that you’ve decided to buy a book both for yourself and your boyfriend. :)
To be honest L, if you are looking for a book that centers mostly around recovery, I would go for Healing Old Wounds With New Stitches since the overall theme is the journey of recovery and the healing process.
It is split into two parts: the first part containing 13 poems about grief, loss, death, sadness, etc, and the second part containing 13 poems about the joy of life, healing, and recovery.
So the first part, the “Old Wounds” half, kind of transitions into the “New Wounds” half in a way that mirrors the healing process.
So I would go for that one. Although Survival Songs obviously does have poems about recovery too, though it’s not specifically centered around that theme like Healing Old Wounds With New Stitches is!
Hope that helped. Have a nice day, L. Hope your boyfriend does well and has a wonderful birthday. :)