You should hurt
but you can’t feel. Squeezing your eyes past a tear, you beg
this memory to go away. You hope if you make yourself
small, it won’t find you, but it’s always there. Wanda, don’t
shake and cry. It won’t do you good to run and hide
anymore. The monsters aren’t going away, Wanda, don’t you
understand? Make yourself big as an ocean, strong as the tides,
and if you just keep moving, you’ll survive.
— From “Someday I’ll Love Wanda Deglane”
Lady Saturn (Rhythm & Bones Press) is a galaxy of emotions with a distinct, beautiful voice and vivid imagery. Deglane states in the opening poem “if you must be a disappointment, then you’ll taste / every bit of it, down to its last sickly sweet drop,” and she does just that through her confessional and deeply personal poetry.
Deglane successfully submerges us into the mind of a person troubled by depression, anxiety, trauma, and a Lexapro-fogged brain with an overarching story of hope. Lady Saturn is a conversation between poet and Saturn at her “sick bed” in which the poet confesses, “I think I’m lost,” and Saturn reminds her, “I’ll always be there. I’m not so far away.”
Lady Saturn, herself, addresses poet and reader with insightful truths and inspiration from which many readers can gain solace.
Purchase your copy of Lady Saturn from Rhythm & Bones Press.