Maya Klinenberg’s poetry series, “Shades of Heartbreak,” shows us what heartbreak can look like, in both romantic and platonic love. The speaker in her poems addresses different “you’s” as a way to more deeply understand experiences with previous partners and friends. Klinenberg explores facets of love, grief, self-worth, and loss of connection. In one of the poems addressed to her friend, she writes: “I am so afraid / that if I give up on you, / I’m giving up / on a part of myself.”
Maya Klinenberg is a poet, educator, and editor. She graduated from the University of California, Riverside with a BA in Creative Writing and has a certificate in Editing & Publishing from UCLA Extension. Maya also holds a Montessori teaching credential and has nearly a decade of experience as a child educator. She hopes to one day combine her interests in children’s education and editing and become a children’s or young adult book publisher. Maya is currently Book Review Co-Editor for the Los Angeles Review as well as the Education Coordinator for Tupelo Quarterly. She resides in Los Angeles with her partner and two cats.