Memories of a Lover
by Jayson W Rampersad

---

Rejected love, ecstatic love, misguided love—Memories of a Lover explores complex and intensely vivid experiences of love and relationship in this collection of poems. Rare moments of perfect connection between the lover and the beloved sit alongside raw fear and compulsive self-destructiveness as the poet/lover unsparingly records his memories. If you were a song, I’d listen until I was deaf. I would listen until all I could hear was silence, I’d prefer silence over any sound that isn’t you. This almost forensic look at love takes place in four chapters under ancient Greek titles—Oneirataxia (inability to distinguish between reality and fantasy), anaxiphilia (choice of wrong lovers), philophobia (fear of falling in love), and agape (unconditional love)—proving that our struggles to understand this powerful emotion are both millennia-old and as recent as yesterday. The collection will appeal particularly to those aged 14-30, at a stage in their life where they are meeting love and romance for the first time. I say hello to you, Risking a goodbye. I reach for your hand, Risking its retraction. I lean to kiss you, Risking your pull away. I love you, Risking the heartbreak.

---

Jayson Rampersad is a young, first-time author. His own personal experiences of love, along with his observations of love in those around him, inspired him to write Memories of a Lover. Born and raised in Oakville, Ontario, he currently lives in Montreal, Quebec. You can follow him at: Instagram: @jayson.w.rampersad TikTok: @jayson.w.rampersad I hide you amongst my poetry. Echoes of you bouncing off each letter, Glimpses of you between each line, Shadows of you in the corners of each page, Rays of you in the margins, I hide you amongst my poetry.

---

Contributors

Author

Jayson W Rampersad

Illustrator

Jeannette MacLean