Nicole Santalucia

'America are you listening'

Gabriela Portillo Alvarado

Gabriela Portillo Alvarado reviews three poetry titles on immigration, trauma, racism, and America: The Book of Dirt by Nicole Santalucia, Adelante by Jessica Guzman, and Every Day We Get More Illegal by Juan Felipe Herrera. The Book of Dirt is a guttural, expositional collection of poems rooted in central Pennsylvania, with jarring wordplay, intricate metaphor, and vivid, sometimes-fantastical imagery: β€œthe apples have triggers, / the avocados, bullets, / the extra, large barrel-bananas / are discounted on Tuesday / when you buy two bunches.”

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