Saudade reportedly has no direct English translation its 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 yearnings actually very familiar to those of us born and raised in North America we often call it the blues. This saudadethemed anthology explores this fascinating emotional territory in exciting poems and stories from a range of new and upandcoming authorspieces that linger after the last page is turned.