On today's episode, essayist, critic and award-winning poet Vanessa Angelica Villarreal reads new poems on family, ancestors and extinct flowers of the Americas. Here are "Shelter in Place," "Easter Poem," "August," and "Canis Latrans."

Vanessa's first poetry collection, Beast Meridian, earned a Whiting Award and the John A. Robertson Best First Book Award from the Texas Institute of Letters. The collection was also a 2019 Kate Tufts Discovery Award Finalist. Beast Meridian and her highly anticipated collection of essays, Magical Realism, are available now at VanessaAngelicaVillarreal.com. 

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Hosted by Ashaki Jaskson, publisher of The Offing
Intro theme is “Boro” by Hara Noda. Outro is “Yuzu” by Hara Noda.
Music provided by Epidemic Sound.
Recorded at Past Due Studios in Los Angeles, California.
Produced by Christopher Chase Godwin
Executive producer Katrina Mohn