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THE BOOK OF WHAT REMAINS
By: Benjamin Sáenz
Copper Canyon Press
April 2010
On Sale: April 1, 2010
124 pages
ISBN: 1556592973
EAN: 9781556592973
Paperback
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Fiction Poetry
ldquo;To write well about your life, you need to have a life worth writing about. On that score, Saacute;enz hits pay dirt.rdquo; - Booklistldquo;A former Catholic priest, this poet creates prayerful verse that is at once mystical and utterly human.rdquo; - The Washington PostPoet, novelist, and popular YA writer Benjamin Alire Saacute;enz writes to the core truth of lifersquo;s ever-shifting memories. Set along the Mexican border, the contrast between the desertrsquo;s austere beauty and the brutality of border politics mirrors humanityrsquo;s capacity for both generosity and cruelty. In his numbered series ldquo;Meditation on Living in the Desert,rdquo; Saacute;enz turns to memory, heritage, and a host of literary progenitors as he directly confronts matters of faith, civil rights, and contemporary politics-always with the unrelenting moral urge to speak truth and do something.I am looking at a book of photographs. The photographs document the exodus of Mexicans crossing the desert. I am staring at the face of a woman who is more a girl than a woman. She is handing her documents to a government official.I know and you know and we all know that the documents are forged. The official is not in the photograph.Only the frightened eyes of a girl.A former Catholic priest who worked with Mother Teresa, Benjamin Alire Saacute;enz has published five books of poetry, four novels, a collection of short stories, and two bilingual childrenrsquo;s books. He received the American Book Award and teaches in the bilingual MFA program at University of Texas, El Paso.
 Media BuzzPBS News Hour - June 30, 2010
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