Book excerpt: The Butterfly Bruises is a collection of poems and stories regarding animals, the ocean, miscommunication, childhood, Northeastern versus Southern American culture, family, nature versus technology, and the imagination of the introvert. In these lyrical texts, a couple sleepwalks together, a therapist is imagined as a snake, a manatee befriends a widow, a ghost haunts an old Charleston home, and New York City becomes its own character. Stepping into these pages brings about new worlds—some full of magic, others full of mystery. Rewiev Quotes “Literary readers seeking writings replete with wake-up calls for change will find The Butterfly Bruises to be reflective, visionary, and hard to put down.” Diane Donovan of The Midwest Book Review “Palmer has her finger on the pulse of emotion; you can feel heartbreak and love in every stanza. A young poet capturing the colorful grace of her generation…” Jasper Soloff, Director and Photographer “Inventive, insightful and highly readable.” David Farley, author of An Irreverent Curiosity: In Search of the Church’s Strangest Relic in Italy’s Oddest Town “From sonnets to somnambulance, form algae to oxytocin, from manatees to Manhattan, Smith rides the riptides of memory’s fictions and frictions in this prolific debut.” Professor Robert Dewhurst, Poetry Critic and Scholar