In The Paradox of Intimacy: Love and Related Vulnerabilities, world traveler and creative empath Alana Mbanza takes us on the most liberating and terrifying journey imaginable - the quest to open our scarred hearts and discover authentic love. Through unapologetically raw poems that follow the timeless arc of opening, anguishing, and letting go, Mbanza gives us a visceral insight into the tender dance of loving another complex human being. We are offered the sometimes messy, sometimes transcendent experience of following the yearning for love, no matter the cost, to finally witness the empowerment of true redemptive love.