In Lieu of Heartbreak, This is Like, by Leticia Priebe Rocha

Poetry, chapbook, 32 pages, from Bottlecap Features. Leticia Priebe Rocha’s debut chapbook, In Lieu of Heartbreak, This is Like searches for what is left after surrendering your heart to one who is not equipped to hold it. This collection of poems illustrates the speaker’s journey through a particular hurt that unearths all other heartbreaks, prompting an unraveling of the self. That unraveling, rather than undoing, is a catalyst for untangling the messy, at times heartrending, and always miraculous experience of love in all of its forms. Tender and profoundly human, this collection dives through losses and emerges not unscathed, but whole nonetheless. In the search for what is left, the speaker finds our inherent interconnectedness and a well of resilience, hope, and love that cannot be dismantled. In Lieu of Heartbreak, This is Like is a love letter to feeling, to aliveness, to loneliness, and to the self, ever reaching for radiance. Leticia Priebe Rocha is a poet, visual artist, and editor. She earned her bachelor’s from Tufts University, where she was awarded the 2020 Academy of American Poets University & College Poetry Prize. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, she immigrated to Miami, FL at the age of 9 and currently resides in the Greater Boston area. Her work has been published in Salamander, Rattle, Pigeon Pages, Protean Magazine, and elsewhere. Leticia also served as Guest Editor for Yellow Arrow Journal’s EMBLAZON issue. For more information, visit her website: leticiaprieberocha.com.