Year of the Snake

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poetry “‘Does this mean each moment is an astonishment?’ Lee Ann Roripaugh’s question is answered over and over again with a resounding ‘Yes!’ in this stunning new collection, Year of the Snake. Out of the shimmer and sparkle of the insects and fish she remembers with such jeweled precision, she re-creates her childhood in Wyoming in one exquisite poem after another. A child of two cultures, Japan and the American West, Roripaugh looks back in amazement at the details of her lost world of hummingbirds, snakes, Nanking cherries, falling stars, and antelope jerky. As she comes to understand the unappeasable hunger that drove both her and the Yellow Monarch out of paradise, her adult yearning is transformed into spiritual resurrection.” —Maura Stanton, author of Glacier Wine “This is Lee Ann Roripaugh at the height of her powers. Precise and unforgettable images about family and community make these poems sing and stay with you days after you have gently put the book down. She is a ‘fish with a third, wide eye’ delivering unflinching truths. I believe that Roripaugh is one of the dozen or so best poets writing in America today.” —Nick Carbó, author of Secret Asian Man Lee Ann Roripaugh’s first collection of poems, Beyond Heart Mountain, was a 1998 winner of the National Poetry Series Award. She is the recipient of a 2003 Artist Fellowship from the Archibald Bush Foundation, the Randall Jarrell International Poetry Prize, and the Academy of American Poets Prize. Her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, North American Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Crab Orchard Review, and in the anthology Asian American Poetry: The Next Generation. She is an assistant professor of English at the University of South Dakota. C R A B O R C H A R D A W A R D S E R I E S I N P O E T R Y Printed in the United States of America Cover design: Erin Kirk New Cover illustration: “Fancy Tails” by Richard Chesler Southern Illinois University Press Mail Code 6806 1915 University Press Drive Carbondale, IL 62901 www.siu.edu/~siupress isbn 0-8093-2569-1 isbn 978-0-8093-2569-6 lee ann roripaugh ,!7IA8A9-dcfgjg! ...