Lisa D. Chavez

This is my second book, and in my mind, quite a bit better than my first, Destruction Bay. Most of these poems were written while I was a graduate student at the University of Rochester. I became very interested in race relations in the 19th century, and a lot of these poems are drawn from historical sources: from captivity narratives and from photos and catalogues of the Worlds Fairs in Chicago and Saint Louis. I think of many of these poems as an exploration of the history of the United States. These poems are mostly narrative in style, and like my first book, most of them are not based on my personal experience, but rather show my passions, interests, and obsessions.… (meer)