A magical melding of the cold analytics of science and the lyricism of poetry, Sally Zakariya’s highly original collection of poems is at once lively and somber, playful and profound. Her work is conversational, the poet confiding in the reader like a dear friend. Then, amid these confidences, she’ll toss off beautiful macabre metaphors that startle: “you flattened like a penny on the track.”  Or again “you left your exoskeleton in bed last night.” The poet’s persona is clearly a woman of a certain age looking back, sometimes with regret. Yet, taken as a whole, the poet remains optimistic:  “Now each day a chance for reclamation/taking back what’s lost while you still can.”   - C.W