<DIV><p>&ldquo;To write well about your life, you need to have a life worth writing about. On that score, Sáenz hits pay dirt.&rdquo; &mdash;<I>Booklist</I></p> <p>&ldquo;A former Catholic priest, this poet creates prayerful verse that is at once mystical and utterly human.&rdquo; &mdash;<I>The Washington Post</I></p> <p>Poet, novelist, and popular YA writer Benjamin Alire Sáenz writes to the core truth of life&rsquo;s ever-shifting memories. Set along the Mexican border, the contrast between the desert&rsquo;s austere beauty and the brutality of border politics mirrors humanity&rsquo;s capacity for both generosity and cruelty. In his numbered series &ldquo;Meditation on Living in the Desert,&rdquo; Sáenz turns to memory, heritage, and a host of literary progenitors as he directly confronts matters of faith, civil rights, and contemporary politics&mdash;always with the unrelenting moral urge to speak truth and <I>do</I> something.</p> <p><I>I am looking at a book of photographs.<BR>The photographs document the exodus of Mexicans crossing the desert.<BR>I am staring at the face of a woman who is more a girl than a woman.<BR>She is handing her documents to a government official.</I></p> <p><I>I know and you know and we all know that the documents are forged.<BR>The official is not in the photograph.</I></p> <p><I>Only the frightened eyes of a girl.</I></p> <p>A former Catholic priest who worked with Mother Teresa, <B>Benjamin Alire </B><B>Sáenz</B> has published five books of poetry, four novels, a collection of short stories, and two bilingual children&rsquo;s books. He received the American Book Award and teaches in the bilingual MFA program at University of Texas, El Paso.</p></DIV>