<DIV><p><I>Hope Tree</I> is a book of poetic erasure. It was created by erasing words from a manual titled <I>How to Prune Fruit Trees</I>. By pruning back the language of the original source, this collection creates lyric poems of loss and longing.</p><p><B>Frank Montesonti </B>is the author of <I>Blight, Blight, Blight, Ray of Hope </I>(Barrow Street Press), winner of the 2012 Barrow Street book contest, and the chapbook <I>A Civic Pageant </I>(Black Lawrence Press, 2009).</p></DIV>