Twenty-nine is a milestone year of transformation. In this collection, Alyan traverses memories of family members, past lovers, another land, and a foreign language to examine the tolls that displacement takes on the body and mind.

Alyan's poems are often more abstract, and I suspect more seasoned poetry readers might get more from this collection. Nonetheless, my favorites include

• The Honest Wife: "I lied and said I loved Philadelphia, but really I just loved the idea of a place so old it only knew how to tell the truth"
• Aleppo: "In the city bombs peck the streets into a braille that we pretend we cannot read. A treat full of / :: girl bodies / :: mattresses / :: cooked hearts"