How Brave We Are To Love

by Michael de la Guerra in Poetry November 21st, 2024

Read "How Brave We Are To Love" From: Poems About Love

How brave you must be, then, to not ever know

The eyes of someone with whom you could fully let go

Before they slithered away and found another to hold

And still sleep with tableau dreams full of hope

Falling in love, always with a mirror hidden by smoke

Concealing an oddly familiar dark and empty hole

Where the one you cherished left you, vulnerable and cold

To enjoy company elsewhere, while you suffered alone


How brave, then, to catechize

Lessons of growth

Out of the many sutures

You’ve collected and sewn

Still open to letting go

Until one day you find

A love of your own

One which feels

Just like home

This celebration of courage in the face of love's uncertainties acknowledges the risk while affirming its worth. If this poem's message of resilient vulnerability spoke to you, you might also connect with:

• "Lonely Letter A" – Similarly explores the courage required to remain open to possibility despite past disappointments.

• "It's Hard" – Offers a contrasting perspective from someone who recognizes their own difficulty in receiving love.

• "The Curious One" – Examines courage in intellectual rather than emotional exploration, but with similar themes of risking the known for potential growth.

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Explore these creative resources that blend art and poetry in unique ways. From free prints to writing tools, there's something here for every artistic soul.

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Exploring the Poetic Voice: Michael de la Guerra's Literary Landscape

Michael de la Guerra's online portfolio presents a rich tapestry of poetry, essays, and artistic reflections that examine the complexities of modern relationships, cultural influences on romantic expression, and the psychological dimensions of love and loss.

A Distinctive Voice in Contemporary Poetry

Throughout his work, de la Guerra demonstrates a remarkable ability to blend raw emotional honesty with technical craft. His poetry collection features pieces like "HAPPY IN BED," which tackles modern dating concepts like "situationships" with a blend of dark humor and quiet dignity. The poet often acknowledges his own vulnerability while maintaining a self-aware perspective about the human condition.

His "Medical School Romance Poem" captures fleeting connections with strangers in institutional settings, pondering whether brief shared moments might someday become meaningful memories for the other person. This theme of ephemeral connections appears frequently in his work.

Cultural Exploration and Scholarly Depth

De la Guerra's scholarly side emerges in comprehensive explorations like "Romantic Poetry: Poems About Love Across Cultures," where he examines how different cultural traditions approach romantic expression. From Tang Dynasty China to Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, he traces the universal human need to capture love's complexities through poetry while highlighting how each society filters these emotions through unique cultural lenses.

His work often begins with personal anecdotes - like his inability to communicate directly with his Spanish-speaking grandmother - before expanding into broader cultural analysis. This technique creates an accessible entry point for readers into complex literary traditions.

Dark Poetry and Psychological Insight

The "Dark Love Poetry" guide demonstrates de la Guerra's understanding of how poetry serves as both artistic expression and psychological processing. He distinguishes between performative darkness and authentic shadow work, offering readers insight into how true dark poetry transforms private pain into shared understanding.

Throughout this exploration, he connects psychological concepts like attachment theory to poetic expression, showing how disorganized attachment might manifest in certain poetic tendencies, while earned security allows for different forms of creative expression.

Personal Narratives with Universal Appeal

In shorter reflective pieces like "A Ruthless Gangster's Greatest Fear," de la Guerra reveals his ability to find profound meaning in unexpected places. By juxtaposing the vulnerability of a hardened criminal experiencing a crush with his own similar feelings, he creates a meditation on how emotional authenticity connects us across seemingly vast differences.

This approach - finding universal human experiences in specific, often overlooked moments - characterizes much of his work, making even his most personal reflections resonate with readers from diverse backgrounds.

A Multi-Faceted Creative Practice

Beyond his writing, de la Guerra offers resources for fellow poets and writers, including prompt generators and workbooks. His website showcases his parallel visual art practice, including abstract, Japandi, and dark abstract wall art collections.

This integration of visual and literary arts reflects a holistic creative approach, where different expressive forms complement and enhance each other rather than existing in isolation.

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