Lee Ann Roripaugh’s fifth volume of poetry, tsunami vs. the fukushima 50 (Milkweed Editions, 2019), was named a “Best Book of 2019” by the New York Public Library, selected as a poetry Finalist in the 2020 Lambda Literary Awards, cited as a Society of Midland Authors 2020 Honoree in Poetry, and was named one of the “50 Must-Read Poetry Collections in 2019” by Book Riot. She was named winner of the Association of Asian American Studies Book Award in Poetry/Prose for 2004, and a 1998 winner of the National Poetry Series. The South Dakota State Poet Laureate from 2015-2019, Roripaugh is a Professor of English at the University of South Dakota, where she serves as Editor-in-Chief of South Dakota Review. Read more of Lee Ann's work here: the Offing and diode.
It’s the summer the Okanagan’s on fire, and everything’s obscured by smoke, including the doomed nature of fucking your stoner Canadian girlfriend from grad school. Even though it’s an entire province away, the smoke creates a hazy gray cloud cover most days, fogging up the intensely honeyed summer sunlight. It lends an air of solemnity, you feel, to the national… Read more →