First, before I begin, I would like to thank the duo authors known as Wodke Hawkinson for giving me the opportunity to write on their blog, and for their support.

I was given the honor to write this article in regards to my new book The Four Letters of Love soon to be released on Amazon, strategically before Valentine's Day.

Why poetry and love? I asked myself the question.

As a poet, I have been recently asked to review some poetry written by other poets and I have come to understand that a poem is really a feeling. If it rhymes and flows, then it has offered a music to your ear by the sound of its words. If it describes an image, then it has already fed your mind with a new vision.

If it stirs your soul or causes an emotion, then it has done its job in transmitting a feeling.

I believe poetry is simply writing from the heart, putting into words what is sometimes hard to describe, for an emotion is vague and always altered and yet in the instant it is written down, it is marked in time as it is without alterations or modifications. And yet as poets, I think we tend to draw an extreme image of what we feel, see, or perceive, be it good or bad, and as much as the captured emotion is real, it is somewhat embellished with words.

The Four Letters of Love was written with the idea to renew people's faith in love, for love does indeed hurt and many of us prefer to speak about it when in our most painful hour. In the book however, Love is described as a dream, a fantasy, a metaphor of the beautiful and pure. It is described in short stories as seen from many different eyes, those of a dreamer, of a lover, or of a stranger.

Love is a very complex emotion, sometimes mistaken for lust, passion, desire, need, affection, and so on. When writing the stories and poems in The Four Letters of Love, I did not write them specifically in order for an intended book, but chose to sort them out from my collection of A Heartstorm, when I noticed upon reading them the inspirational message they portrayed. When I did write them, I did so out of a desire to change and as a healing process, for bitterness kills one's soul, and pain makes the brightest day seem gloomy. Thus like the warrior rising from the ashes, I summoned my inspiration in a love that could be, a love that is pure, and I wrote these poems. And now, I offer them to my readers, in the hopes that they too can see love in its different forms, and perhaps draw some inspiration, perhaps forgiveness, and even love from the words I have written.

Sometimes people walk into our lives with the sole purpose of inspiring us or lifting us higher, and at times we need someone to cause us pain for it is through hurt that we grow, regardless of how we feel about it. A warrior can never fight without having first trained and fallen many a times before.

Like a warrior's fight, life too is a battle, and love even more so, for in our selfish nature, we often forget that love is not just about taking or winning.

I am not saying that by writing this book, I have a better understanding of love, nor that I am wiser in perceiving it, I am merely saying that if it were not for something called love, humanity would not be the same.

We may deny it, reject it, or hide from it, for love makes us weak, but in the end, love is the essence of the creator, and the essence of who we are, for as human beings, consciously or not, we strive to attain a love that is perfect, pure and true. "And something as love, perceived to be a weakness, may yield to acts of great courage." (In the book you will find quotes by me, like this one, as well.)

Thank you! - Nadina Boun

Nadina's website: http://www.nadinaboun.wordpress.com

Book Trailer http://youtu.be/TCBIIE9sTC8
Goodreads giveaway until the 30th: http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/19429