“To me, that is the power of poetry, where we can take these fragments of our lives, of our psyches, and of our emotions, and to really conjure something new—not necessarily something whole and complete, but something that's beautiful and something that's empowering and inspiring from these ruins of history and migration and so on, and so that's why I really wanted to explore the fragments in my poetry and to weave these fragments together into a new tapestry, not necessarily something completely formed, but it's something that gives me a sense of self, a sense of culture, a sense of place, a sense of belonging as well.”

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Craig Santos Perez is the author of seven books of poetry, and a winner of the American Book Award and a PEN Center USA Award. He is a native of Guam who moved to California at 15 and now teaches literature and creative writing at the University of Hawaii; he’s also a widely anthologized essayist who has thought deeply about place and ecology.

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Many thanks to Hank Lentfer for the use of his gorgeous nature sounds, and to Lindsay Jaeger for the cover art.