The Salt of Something New

The Salt of Something New is the much-anticipated debut collection of poems by Dublin-based Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan. The poems explore love and attraction, excitement and disappointment, responding to the city both as homeplace and as the site of ongoing discoveries and negotiations. "I think about connections, commitment, islands…" she writes in the poem that give the book its title. "How I feel about home, waiting at the edge of things, / wondering when to enter, when to make / myself comfortable, how long to stay." Throughout, there is a remarkable lightness of touch, a precision that reminds us of the poet's abiding interest in science and nature, the fruits of which further extend the range of this confident and memorable debut.