The Swallows

Adriana E. Ramírez takes on ex-boyfriends, the complex conversations between dogs and birds, as well as the

scars of Junior High in The Swallows. Her poetry is about migration, about the ways, like swallows, circumstances and weather can drive a person quite South. As much as it is about birds, the collection is always about hunger, desire, and wanting to be swallowed whole.

Ramírez’s poems hit like a laser-guided freight train: with unmistakable force, but never without precise control. And while unafraid to explore the depths of the most fragile parts in all of us, Ramírez does not drag her audience unwillingly to those dark places – she offers her hand as if to say ‘Come along with me. Whatever this ride is, we’ll be in it together.’

—William James, poet/punk/sadboy