Instructions for Traveling West

Fresh starts, the road less traveled, and a thirst for discovering oneself are at the heart of Sullivan’s immersive and affirming debut poetry collection. Narrating her own work, Sullivan urges listeners to break from the tried and true, the staid and the expected, and seek out the unknown and the uncomfortable, for it is here that the zest of life can be found. As she states in her introduction, “remind yourself—joy is not a trick.” The collection is resonant and wide-ranging, from meditations on evocative childhood moments (“All skinned knees, / pavement and sick-sweet / candy in the sticky backseat”) to memories of her mother’s grim admonitions about sex outside of marriage (“In marriage, sex was a / beautiful maiden. Outside it, a shrieking hag and shriveled ruin”). Whether Sullivan is considering the British monarchy, questioning a higher power, or reflecting on the pandemic, motherhood, or finding one’s home, listeners will find intimately conveyed moments of introspection, joy, pain, and love. Joy effuses self-discovery and reflection in every syllable.