Petrichor. Poetry by Frankie Soto. Paperback 134 pages. March 12th, 2024. ISBN 9781948800624.

Frankie Soto’s Petrichor is a triumph of vulnerability. In poem after poem, Soto dismantles each of our “costumes… worn better than flesh”, whether they be linguistic, masculine, feminine, or addicted, and beckons us, with unapologetic bravery, to repeatedly “return where we did not ask to travel.” Generosity abounds, too, as we make this journey, as Soto offers forgiveness for all our personal and collective shortcomings. Here, the poetic voice is “a house of rain”, steady and fertile, giving way to the titular scent of renewal that follows. This collection is an alchemical act, a magic trick of verse and heart that transforms families chewing at breakfast tables, a father’s heart responding to the passage of time, the earth responding to the rain, and the mind longing for clarity into a humane, graceful way forward. Petrichor is the collection you didn’t know you needed.

—Matt Pasca, Walt Whitman Birthplace Association's 2022 Long Island Poet of the Year and author of Raven Wire, an Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalist