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"