Saudade reportedly has no direct English translation; it's a Portuguese word describing the nostalgic longing for something that may never return, or may not exist. This feeling can be strangely comforting; author Manuel de Mello calls it "A pleasure you suffer, an ailment you enjoy." It permeates the music of Brazil, another nation steeped in slavery and sadness and the hope for a better life. Yet this heartsick yearning's actually very familiar to those of us born and raised in North America; we often call it "the blues." This saudade-themed anthology explores this fascinating emotional territory in exciting poems and stories from a range of new and up-and-coming authors--pieces that linger after the last page is turned. It features work from the following authors:

Lily Mooney

Alfonso Mangione

Jennifer Schaefer

Darrin Doyle

Drew Buxton

Joseph G. Peterson

Rachel Slotnick

Alice Kaltman

Steve Karas

Gerald Brennan

Ben Tanzer

Matt Pine

Liz Yohe Moore

Giano Cromley

chris reid

Traci Failla

In a better world, The Pleasure You Suffer would be the book you'd find in the cheap motel you didn't mean to rent, and, like Gideon's Bible, you'd read it for the nightmares and the hope." - Dave Newman, author of The Poem Factory and Two Small Birds.

"The stories and poems in this one-of-a-kind anthology express an intimate familiarity and poignant vulnerability with the universal sweet pain inherent in the yearning for a gone-but-not-forgotten past of parents, siblings, spouses, lovers, one-night stands, and even youth itself in this too-short life." - Brian Costello, author of Losing in Gainesville