Mao writes to escape being "trapped in someone else's imagination," literally shaping poems that challenge empire, cultural plunder, and the ongoing violence Asian people experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic, both in the U.S. and her birthplace of Wuhan.

Olivarez reps both his Mexican American heritage and Chicago homeland in this bilingual collection that addresses immigration, capitalism, community, and belonging, writing poems that pay homage to love in all its many forms.