I WOKE UP TO WORDS TODAY

What if every moment in our lives existed forever – breathing fiercely inside of the coordinates they occurred in? In Daniella Deutsch’s world, they do.     

In her grand, yet deeply personal and grounded second book, Deutsch delves into what she has termed geographical poetry. She defines not the New York City, but her New York City. Whether it is the room where a profound piece of art hung and captured her heart, the highway where she fell madly in love, or the corner she passes every morning without fail, she views the crosswalks as companions and the buildings as protectors. Deutsch paints the city as a playground of striking solitude, yet also a place rampant with human connection. Deutsch claims the city as both her greatest love affair and also a mother figure - forgiving, healing, and unconditional.       

Deutsch’s poems mirror the city buildings: dense at a first glance yet filled with breath and candid honesty on a closer look. On a map, every detail matters, and Deutsch has chosen to share with her readers the most intimate coordinates of her life thus far. Weaving together her story with both the magic of her closest relationships and the city’s strangers, Deutsch inspires us to reflect on our New York, whatever, wherever, and whenever that may be. She does not fail to leave us wondering, what coordinates take us home?  

Find someone in their 20s who knows what they are doing. You won’t. Because they are all lost… but lost together.  

In her candid-yet-comforting debut poetry collection, Daniella Deutsch reaches out her hand to her fellow 20-somethings, holding them through the shocking and freeing realizations of a grueling decade. There is no escaping the magical and unsettling moments that fill up the 20s, yet Deutsch presents them with a raw, sensual, and nostalgic energy. Whether weeping from heartbreak on the bathroom floor or wandering the streets alone at night, searching for a sign, Deutsch guides her readers through this decade of deep loneliness by coupling it with inexplicable and beautiful transformation. More so, she acknowledges how the process of exploration and growth is never truly finished.  

all the things my mother never told me has a purposeful, natural, and breathtaking arc, reminding readers to be gentle to their bodies and to trust their minds, all while powerfully confessing that we all know very little. Alongside Lisa Jean Moran’s simple yet spiritual artwork, Deutsch tackles the unanswerable questions by embracing them, proving that chaos has no better friend than patience.