Written from the depths of darkness while listening to an inner voice, Deanna Repose Oaks isn't challenging you to "Don't Go; Stay". Instead, you witness her challenge herself, first with selfish tenacity, then with reluctant vulnerability. Everyday things such as calendars, revolving doors, movie matinees, and kitchen sinks transform into greater hope and deeper understanding of her ever-changing darkness with its ebb and flow.

The collection mimics life with poems flashing through human emotions like a slideshow stuck on replay. Selfishness, inferiority, confusion, confidence, insecurity, optimism, emptiness, courageousness, sorrow, isolation, thankfulness, aimlessness, depression, purposefulness, determination, friendship, guilt, happiness, hopefulness, and vulnerability are projected through its pages.

Each poem in "Don't Go; Stay" displays Deanna's spark of hope, shining through even the darkest of thoughts.