Light & Lyric: Love, or Something Like It

Light & Lyric: Love, or Something Like It is a collection of poems and short stories centered on different types of love: romantic longing, sensual connection, unreciprocated devotion, self-love, and the love required to survive becoming yourself. Written in lyrical prose and infused with emotional intensity, speculative elements, and touches of the paranormal, this collection explores love before it's named, as it unravels, and after it's reclaimed.

"The Lock and the Legend" follows a woman who refuses to separate physical intimacy from emotional safety. When someone presses for access without earning trust, she confronts the power of boundaries and the danger of being seen as something to be taken rather than protected.

In "Home," love feels grounding, intoxicating, and safe until vulnerability introduces fear. As emotional attachment deepens, the narrator wrestles with whether love can remain home when permanence is uncertain.

"Stubborn as a Memory: The Weight of What She Knew" introduces Bora, a woman who refuses to forget a friend who was erased from existence. As supernatural forces close in, Bora must face the truth that remembering someone may be an act of love powerful enough to make her a target.

In "She Never Broke," Kamilya, a woman defined by perfection and control, is forced to confront what strength really means when her carefully ordered world begins to crack. Through loss and reflection, she discovers that softness can be a form of resilience.

In "What I Keep for Myself," a woman confronts the cost of always being available, dependable, and strong for everyone else. As she finally voices what she can no longer carry, she learns that love does not require depletion—and that choosing herself is not abandonment, but survival. The story centers on self-love as an act of courage, redefining intimacy as knowing what must remain one's own. 

Together, these stories offer an intimate, emotionally resonant exploration of love, identity, and healing, revealing what it costs to love deeply and what it takes to return to yourself whole.