In the vibrant, minimalist landscape of this book, Puerto Rican poet Zaira Pacheco examines the interplay between illumination and obscurity, using cracks, fissures, pockets of shadows, and ancient water flows to reveal and conceal the traces of human presence. With an essential introduction by poet-translator, Lauren Shapiro, Waking in the Sahara is a dizzying exploration of origins set against the timeless backdrop of rock and sand. Pacheco, with Shapiro, constricts language to delve deeply into the spaces that lie beneath the limits of their names.
