“Part of the act is the idea of presence,” Mabi David begins in one of the series of poems that bears the book’s title. Through the same line, David summarizes this entire collection of declaring existence. She asserts that she is here, wherever that may be, as well as her addresees, wherever they may be. She documents as well as ruminates on many rich histories, be it tourist sites or commonplaces that turn into something remarkably impactful in relation to something or someone close to her heart. Perhaps the “you” that’s being referred to is grief, which, it appears to me, is the overall emotion summoned by this collection. I share David’s grief here, even though it’s quite remote from experience, but I likewise feel grief for the lyric poems I would’ve admired if only the writing style didn’t distract me.