The Muse of Love and Pain - A Collection of Dark Love Poetry & Prose (ePub)

A.X. Salvo's writings and art have appeared in USA Today, MISC, Studio Visit Magazine, Bete Noir, The Adroit Journal, and The Anthologist. Salvo is also the recipient of a Vermont Studio Center grant for Poetry.

"Visually intoxicating, the imagery is vivid and tastefully off-kilter."

"The poet writes about passion so vividly that you feel his pain with every word. I highly recommend this collection!"

"Touching...I love how each poem reveals different emotions and journeys that I found myself forgetting where I was at that moment."

"The characters are dark, yet devoted; destructive, yet alive and passionate."

"In 'The Muse of Love and Pain', we are swept away into a dark, intimate journey of the search for the meaning and redemption in the very thing that haunts, torments and, for those willing to surrender entirely to it, consumes us all."

"A leap into the complex subconscious depths of our being..."

Love isn't just about euphoria; it can be angry, mad, destructive - even tragic. It involves every dimension of our being in infinite ways and degrees. We are attached to love because love is attached to everything. Blurring the lines of poetry and fiction, this blend of gothic verse and fable is an ode to anyone who has traveled through the darkest roads and deepest waters to find love.

This debut introduces readers to A.X. Salvo's strange collection of the most delicious elements of fantasy, horror and romance. We follow a familiar thread of near unrequited love. But this particular love is about an extraordinary being. In "The Intangible" she is a mourning mother, in "Harlequin" a lost lover, she is then reborn as a goddess with astounding power in the epic poem "The Muse of Love and Pain".

Salvo's influences range from the classical poets Milton, Poe, Keats, and Dickinson to contemporary writers Plath, Neruda, Bukowski, Gaiman, and Anne Rice. He finds inspiration in surrealism and the works of artists such as Dali and Man Ray as well as graphic novelists James O' Barr (creator of "The Crow") and David Mack (creator of the "Kabuki" series).