In his third published collection, Wissam Charafeddine dwells into a space that is familiar to many of us… the space of wobbling between hope and despair in a relationship, and the emotional pain that is generated from that. Wissam dwells on the intricacies of this pain and gets inspiration from the refined heightened senses of agony. It is not dramatic or seeking sympathy, rather it teaches us how to use our pain as a space for creation, expression, and heightened sensitivity to the humanity in us… what brings us together … what makes us kind and giving at the end. Wissam Charafeddine is the author of The Opposite Swings and Climbing Leaves. He is also the author of the self-development organizer called The W Planner. He is a first-generation immigrant from Lebanon that combines the passion of the Middleterranean with the simplicity and honesty of America’s Midwest.
“Wissam Charafeddine’s third poetry collection, Pains, is a grand and singular howl of angst and existential abandonment. In this grand requiem of lost love, Charafeddine ushers us into the plunge of loss, sorrow, and the glimmers of hope for survival.”
Yousef Alqamoussi, author of “poems” (219) and “chapter one: Costa Rica”
Mr. Charafeddine’s third volume of poetry reads like a requiem mass, like a single howl of agony. From the very opening of the collection’s dedication to Saint Hedwig–a cemetery in his hometown of Dearborn, Michigan–Charafeddine drags us through the muck and barbs of his loss, beginning with thirteen chants of “the pain” on the first of November. The procession of his sorrow is paired beautifully with photographs of fallen autumn leaves, bare vines, mausoleums, and cold, empty forests. His suffering is bare, often smiting. It is an honest and courageous work!
Yousef Alqamoussi
Wissam Charafeddine 