In the world of Tumblr, the poetry power couple consists of the amazing international best-selling poets Lang Leav and Michael Faudet. Although I discovered Lang Leav’s emotional poems first, I descended down Faudet’s whimsical rabbit hole not long after.
“Bitter Sweet Love” is his much-anticipated second collection of poems, which was released on October 25th, 2016. (So I am a few months late to the party.) Following his acclaimed first work “Dirty Pretty Things,” Faudet’s second collection builds upon the themes already present in his first work. He intricately describes intimate stories on love, loss, relationships, and sex. He embraces the reader, with their heart, body, and mind, through the means of poetry, prose, quotes, and little short stories.
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Faudet’s compelling words immediately grab my attention and for you my fellow reader, here are 15 notable quotes from his beautifully vivid collection, “Bitter Sweet Love.”
1. “Like a well-constructed martini, the words seemed to flow effortlessly-- gently stirred with each stroke of the pen.” (Introduction, vii)
2. “Tired words tapped with yawning fingers, meaningless sentences typed one after the other, overwhelming me like unstoppable waves from a devastating tsunami.
No autocorrect could shake the shackles of my melancholia, fix the unfixable, or change ending of this sad little story.” (“Insomnia,” 29)
3. “Her kisses were the wings of butterflies, beating softly upon lips of crushed petals-- the perfume of love.” (“Her Kisses,” 35)
4. “One last glance in my direction. Her parting words the last I would ever hear from those pretty lips.
‘When we plant weeds in a beautiful garden, it is often tears of regret that water them.’” (“The Garden, 53)
5. “There were only two real seasons of note, or so it seemed to me. One of which was apple-pie-oven hot and the other, a rather good imitation of a straight-from-the-fridge dark chocolate mousse.
How I ended up in this margarita-quenched Beach Boys utopia is another of life’s wacky conundrums.” (“Miami,” 75)
6. “When our eyes met, all time ceased to exist. The dying seconds frozen like the petals of red roses kissed by autumn frost.” (“Petals,” 83)
7. “You are forever my secret rainbow--
Beautifully written upon a rainy, gray page.
Where hope, like love, can be found again--
This gold we share, is ours." ("Rainbow," 87)
8. “As I walk alone across the frostbitten sand, my solitary footsteps writing a sad ending to what was once a beautiful love story.
My eyes stinging with salty tears.
As I look past the crashing gray waves toward a distant horizon.
My parting words lost to a howling wind.
'I have cried an ocean for you but still you ship refuses to sail.'”
("Wish You Were Here," 89)
9. “Always fight for love-- walk barefoot across the jagged shards of a broken heart but never become its victim.” (“Respect Yourself,” 105)
10. “All the years we had spent together suddenly swept away within a sea of untangled fingers.
A magnificent love lost forever in the familiar warmth of a parting embrace.
The final act before the velvet curtains came crashing down.” (“The Final Act,” 115)
11. “Farewell my love,
to fallen love,
the wind became your words,
the emptiness between us,
the silent petals upon the earth.”
(“Cherry Blossom,” 129)
12. “We all live with the burden of at least one regret.
Mine was called Lily.
Her final words etched into my memory.
'Many a beating heart is silenced by the tyranny of indifference.'” (“Lily,” 137)
13. “I have always found beauty in the crooked and flawed.
A lone dark cloud dancing on a stage of brilliant blue.
The honest of a song sung slightly out of tune.
A pretty pink scar, its story told in a sentence written on a milky white thigh.
I think that’s why I love you and all your little eccentricities.” (“Imperfection,” 141)
14. “It fast became a spilt milk and broken teacup kind of romance.
A little manic, a lot of wringing of hands on her part, and several whispered conversations about nothing in particular.” (“Madly In Love,” 143)
15. “It was like our love had suddenly been captured, held for ransom by the eclipse of a dying moon.
A darkness cast, stealing the luminosity and innocent wonder from her firework eyes.
We found ourselves in the realm of suffocating shadows, sitting silently and staring out to sea.
Two shooting stars that had burned too brightly leaving a trail of sparkling nothingness.
--Forgiveness came with a breaking wave, a gentle sigh, melting into the warm summer sand.” (“Eclipse,” 146-147)
Michael Faudet encapsulates complex emotions toward love and loss, along with the conflicts of relationships. These are fifteen notable quotes from his collection, “Bitter Sweet Love,” and I am patiently looking forward to this third work.
