Selected by Alice Notley for the National Poetry Series, Laynie Browne's sixth collection casts a spell. In these fragmented poetic tales, characters disappear and reemerge, their charms reconfigured, their stories unraveling, their happy endings elusive. The book's coda consists of a fantastical poetic dictionary, asking readers to redefine their sense of meaning. Laynie Browne was born in 1966 and grew up in Los Angeles. She is the author of six collections of poetry, including Daily Sonnets and Mermaid's Purse. She has taught creative writing at the University of Washington Bothell and Mills College.