Pre-order – official publication date April 6, 2027

In I Deserve This, Thank You, Lynn Melnick offers a stinging, wry, and deeply personal exploration of womanhood over fifty. Building on Melnick’s career-long commitment to feminist themes—including violence against women, bodily autonomy, and the complexities of motherhood—these poems turn their focus toward a demographic too often rendered invisible by a youth-obsessed culture, using robust, precise language to dismantle outdated illusions.

 Rooted in the author’s formative years in Los Angeles, these poems confront the glittering, often hollow influence of Hollywood and delve into the raw, shadowy corners of womanhood, motherhood, and political survival. This is not a polite reflection on aging; it is an inventive, forthright reckoning with the strength, anger, and resilience that comes with time. The author looks inward with startling honesty, navigating the complex successes and painful failures of motherhood while questioning how a single citizen engages with a fractured world.

I Deserve This, Thank You is a collection for anyone seeking to trade comfortable lies for hard-won truths and proves that the perspective of the older woman is not just relevant—it is essential.