Departure

In Departure, Samuel Miranda depicts a world in which history is bought and sold with an aversion of the truth. In his exquisite debut collection, Miranda journeys through the effects of displacement and forced migration on one’s ability to be at home in one’s skin and language. At the heart of every poem is a labyrinth, a resounding set of questions about entrances and exits for which, as Jorge Luis Borges writes, “there’ll never be a door.” When Miranda writes “In time empty rooms became an empty house/that did not mourn absence/but crumbled under the weight of vacancy” the breadth and depth of Departure is unequivocal. This book is a must have and every poem a must read.