The Palace of Contemplating Departure

Brynn Saitos debut collection of poetry begins in a cityscape and ends \u201cdeep in the cloud-filled valley,\u201d traversing myriad terrainsboth emotional and physicalas it weaves towards completion. From the bays of Denmark to the deserts of California, Saitos searching lyricism gathers stories of sudden departures, forced removals, and the journeys chosen in between. Narrative selections inspired by childhood, sisterhood, lost loves and newfound freedoms are cased by interludes of otherworldly visions and persona poems spoken from many perspectivesanimal and otherwise. This is a book about the ever-present capacity for wonder, transformation, and change: \u201cThe fighter is in me,\u201d claims the speaker in the poem \u201cWinter in Denmark,\u201d \u201cand the future is in me.\u201d Inside every moment of rage or lossbeneath tough city sidewalks and under the quiet of a moonlit valleyis another moment, ripe with possibility and foretelling the future sky.