by Mary D. Esselman and Elizabeth Ash VÈlez

Finally a book of poetry that describes every emotion you go through when you are in love and heart broken. This book is amazing and wonderful. I recommend it to who ever loves poetry and ever had a broken heart.~Jimmel

The Hell with Love: Poems to Mend a Broken Heart

Book Description
Andrew Carroll, Director,The American Poetry and Literacy Project "The greatest anthology of poetry I have ever read... reminds me why I fell in love with poetry..." Book Description Poetry that reaches out to the broken-hearted in a smart, funny and insightful package.The Hell With Love is a sassy and heart-wrenching collection of poems that expresses the anger, hurt, and depression of loss; that asks why, analyzes rifts, and strives for explanation; and that builds resolve, envisions a future, and revels in the present. Poets include Margaret Atwood, Louise Gluck, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sharon Olds, Robert Frost and many more.

Kiss Off: Poems to Set You Free

Book Description

Kiss OffBook Description The editors of The Hell With Love are back, applying their irreverent view of life and love to help melt the hardest heart of all-your own. For anyone who's been let down by life and love, these poems reveal that the most important person you can fall in love with is yourself. The collection travels through various stages of self-discovery, self-doubt, and, ultimately, self-realization and acceptance-from first kiss to kiss off. Renowned poets, including John Keats, Margaret Atwood, James Wright, Lucille Clifton, and Marie Ponsot explore the universal issues of trust and betrayal, awakening and curiosity, freedom, and self-confidence. This collection will show anyone looking for love how to find it within.

READER'S COMMENTS ON The Hell with Love: Poems to Mend a Broken Heart

I actually met the editors of this book when they visited my poetry class, and really enjoyed listening to them read aloud poems and commentary and speak about the process of putting the book together. Little did I know that a mere month later I too would become part of the target audience after breaking up with my fiance. I have to tell you, that made a very good book one hundred times more meaningful. I would recommend this to anyone who loves poetry, and particularly those who are in the post-breakup doldrums. The poems are beautiful, and the essays really pull them together.~A Reader

Who are these funny women who collect such greaat poems and then explain them to the pedestrian world? They should have their own talk show or perhaps tour in stand-up. I ordered this book on-line with some fear that it would not be as witty and wise as the first volume -- The Hell with Love. It is more of the same but much more appealing to those for whom love is a given in their lives. Highly enjoyable. We're passing it around the day spa and adding it as a key reference text for our ongoing discussions about the relationships that work and, especially, the one's that don't. I love Kiss Off.~Marianne

I LOVE this book. It seriously helped me through a rough breakup. I guess I should be grateful that the breakup happened around Valentines Day because that is the only reason I found this book. It was on a table full of other mushy poetry books, but I was drawn to the 'little black book' with the candy hearts on the cover. It hooked me from the beginning.

The book is broken up into different sections (anger, moving on, false hope, and eventually real hope)... feelings you actually go through during a breakup. And they are perfect. The poems for the ANGER section were exactly what I needed when I was so mad at the world.... and my ex.

The sections at the end, the real healing chapters, truly helped me. To know that someone else (and great poets at that!) has felt what I was feeling and that there is hope even when it does not seem like it, comforted me.

I really believe this book helped me through one of the hardest times of my life. I have recommended it to many friends who have also enjoyed it. Buy this book if you or someone you know needs help through a breakup or divorce!~Alison

Have you ever picked up a book and felt it was written especially with you in mind? This is the exact feeling I experienced in reading Mary D. Esselman and Elizabeth Ash Velez's Kiss Off: Poems to Set You Free. These ladies masterfully crafted a small book into a mini doctor's manual where I was able to look up what ailed me: broken heart, messed-up family, elusive career- and receive perfect poems to treat my pain. By reading this book, I rediscovered my true self and true direction. The strength and inspiration of this book captures the true essence of life. I feel this book is the stepping-stone a person needs to reach the top of their world. Once you read it, you will find that you keep it close at hand to refer to often when you need a shot of happiness and strength. This book will guide you through those difficult times when life decides to throw you a curve.~Suzie

This book of poetry had something for every stage of my nasty breakup. From shock and realization, to mind numbing grief, to the pathetic attempts at revival, to the process of getting on with it and the slow joy that came with realizing that it wasn't the end. This book is dog-eared with being read so much and having the pages folded so that I could find them again. I would buy it for any friend who was going through a similar breakup or divorce.~Ammo Witch

I bought this book expecting to be disappointed; no sequel, I thought, could live up to the wonderfully funny and moving first offering by these women, "The Hell with Love." But the suprise was on me. "Kiss Off" is truly a better collection, warm and funny, with classic verse on one page and contemporary on the next.

This anthology is also a testament to the enduring gift of poetry through the ages, as well as its relevance to everyday lives led by everyday people. Thank you, authors, for bringing poetry once again to pedestrian lovers of literature like me. We are taking it up in our book club next month, knowing it will spark great discussions and bring new insights about our lives, our loved ones and our world. Amazaon patrons, Give it as a gift to your best friends, but first buy a copy for yourself.~Marianne

READER'S COMMENTS ON The Hell with Love: Poems to Mend a Broken Heart

After a tempestuous break up that lasted much longer than it should have, I was left destitute emotionally. I was at a book store, eyes red, puffy, in a virtual haze, when a friend of mine ran this book over to me. After reading the first poem ("you fit into me" by Margaret Atwood) I felt instantly better. And then I read the entire first section (titled "Rage") and decided I had to purchase it.

The book is divided into 8 sections: Rage, Sadness, Self-Hatred, False Hope, Resolve, Relapse, Real Hope, and Moving On. Throughout the book, the editors provide an introduction to each chapter and explain their reading of each poem and why it is included in the anthology. Normally I would think that such introductions were didactic and condescending, but Esselman and Velez do it with such good humor and down to earth understanding that I took more from their critical writing than I normally do in such anthologies.

While the editors are both female, both genders are well represented (i.e., this isn't just a book for "chicks"). While there seems to be a pretty large emphasis on modern and post-modern poets (e.e. cummings, Philip Larkin, Robert Frost, Dorothy Parker, and the aforementioned Atwood are all represented, as well as others), writers of other styles and periods are fairly well represented. There are some obvious poems, such as Emily Dickinson's "After Great Pain," John Donne's "The Flea", and excerpts from Hamlet and Macbeth, and there are some pleasant surprises: Larkin's bitter sing-song "This Be the Verse", Yehuda Amichai's heartwrenching "Quick and Bitter" (with the most beautiful and biting last lines I can remember in a love poem), and the exquisite imagery of "my dreams, my works, must wait till after hell" by Gwendolyn Brooks.

If you have a friend who has recently experienced a painful break up, buy them this book. If you, yourself, have recently experienced it, treat yourself to a little gift that's cheaper than therapy and anti-depressants. I kept my copy in my backpack for six months, and whenever any of the horrible, destructive emotions of rejection would sieze me, I would take it out and read one of my favorites. When I finally began to get over the break up, it took a place at my bedside, where I would read the last two chapters frequently. Its now going to be passed to a friend who recently had her heartbroken, but I will surely be getting another copy in the future... if only to give to other heartbroken friends.~Suzan

Read more or order your copies of
The Hell with Love: Poems to Mend a Broken Heart
or
Kiss Off: Poems to Set You Free Today!

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