Boulders is a celebration of Detroit, its steadfast heartiness and surprising beauty in the face of change and the difficulties of humanity; it is a reflection on nature in a way you've never seen before.Crab grass and dandelions. Verdant rainforests in shattered shops. Raw music of urban life and relentless birdsong. Belle Isle, Eastern Market, Midtown, Cobo and the history of humanity, of capitalism. Absence, presence. The red-eyed nocturnal animal that will not flee your car. Grind and bump of steel, rust, wrecking balls, and yet the turquoise river, its day diamonds. Ah, such song, sensuality, breathless lists and litanies. From the chilling reality of the first poem to the crushing quote from Keynes at the end, this is a body-and-soul rocking, rapping, jiving celebration of the spirit of Detroit. Though there is grief for a lost era, and the natural world has predators whose "absolute power hungers for you," Nature in its stark beauty triumphs everywhere. Cintr?n's electric poems will send currents through you. This collection contains a powerful energy, and like Nature itself, becomes vibrant and alive in the hands of this masterful poet.-Zilka Joseph, author of In Our Beautiful Bones, Sparrows and Dust, Sharp Blue Search of FlameEsperanza Cintr?n's Boulders is a celebratory lyric examining the rich beauty of Detroit. The city's cold, its spring, its island and its birds all make appearances in this collection where the city's natural landscape is a lively character overtaking abandoned buildings and threatening to cross the threshold of houses. Cintr?n's lush images and stunning sounds cascade throughout the book building an unforgettable love song dedicated to the history and the present of post-industrial Detroit.-Nandi Comer, author of Tapping OutLike the 'boulders' these poems are named for, Cintr?n's collection traces the particular urban geology and geography that predated, formed, and eventually crumbled-And in between the sidewalk cracks and sunken railways, empty plumbing stores and abandoned factories, life is teeming: a cardinal, a possum; quackgrass and honeysuckle; butterflies and bumblebees and all manner of inner-city flora and fauna (not least of all, people). From the salt mines to the Eastern Market, the stadium to the Q-Line, Cintr?n's Boulders is a suite of odes, blues, elegies, and incantations of place that "sparkle like silver talismans tossed across the strait."-Brandi Katherine Herrera, author of Mother is a Body
