Book excerpt: "Who knows if the grief / I squeeze through my lips can be borne?" says an ancient Aztec singer. In this collection, prize-winning poet Alicia Hokanson sets out to map the raw boundaries of grief by ruthlessly examining occasions and consequences of loss, offset by close and affectionate attention to the smallest nuances of the sensual universe. We learn that what perishes from this world is not only bearable but inseparable from what we celebrate. -Samuel Green, former Washington Poet Laureate, author of Disturbing the Light.