Hopeful Romantic

Hopeful romantic is a poetic "journal" of personal experiences with love and relationships. Many of us are conditioned that we are incomplete unless we fall in love with the person of our dreams. Love becomes a destination, an object, a "prize" centered on a mate. The good news is this objectification of love is often a part of our hero's journey of self-love, in spite of losing ourselves, falling in and out of love, and straddling loneliness in between. The poetry of Hopeful Romantic delivers the message that romance is a luxury, and love is a lesson rooted in hope. Self-love is our greatest lesson and to experience self-love we must heal from the heartbreak of the objectification of love we were taught.

Hopeful romantic is a poetic "journal" of personal experiences with love and relationships. Many of us are conditioned that we are incomplete unless we fall in love with the person of our dreams. Love becomes a destination, an object, a "prize" centered on a mate. The good news is this objectification of love is often a part of our hero's journey of self-love, in spite of losing ourselves, falling in and out of love, and straddling loneliness in between. The poetry of Hopeful Romantic delivers the message that romance is a luxury, and love is a lesson rooted in hope. Self-love is our greatest lesson and to experience self-love we must heal from the heartbreak of the objectification of love we were taught. "The music of Prince is a big inspiration for the creative pursuit of Hopeful Romantic. Prince embodied radical self-expression, creative freedom and owning your story with audacity. He inspired me to embrace myself as an artist, share my poetry and become an independent author. Hopeful Romantic is a poetic self-portrait of the lessons that come with love. "-Yusef Ali

Yusef Ali was born in the Atlanta area known as the "SWATS", coined in the mid-1990s by recording artists, Goodie Mob and Outkast out of appreciation and respect for their Southwest Atlanta neighborhoods. After graduating high school, Yusef remained in Atlanta and worked his way through college to earn a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from Georgia State University. During college Yusef began writing poetry, exploring love, race, art, politics, nature and society. Yusef was a regular of the Atlanta open mic poetry scene during the mid/late 1990s, and hosted poetry events at the Red Light Cafe, Patty Hut Cafe and Club Esso. As the 1990s ended, Yusef married, became a father, leaving the open mic poetry scene behind to focus on family and career. Yusef worked in Finance for ten years, before making a transition into the Culinary Arts/Gourmet Retail industry working as a Retail Manager, Culinary Instructor, and Barista. While working as a Barista, Yusef rediscovered his passion for writing poetry. Hopeful Romantic is his first book, under independent publishing imprint, Louverture Press, named for Haitian revolutionary, Toussaint Louverture.