Punishment

If poetry is, at its essence, a way for humans to see and touch each other, then Nancy Miller Gomez’s carefully observed, finely crafted poems are doing the work of poetry. In these times when the divide between people so often seems too great to be crossed, when hatred and prejudice are state-sponsored, when the intersection of race, justice, and imprisonment has led to the United States having the largest incarceration rate of any country in the world, these poems are an important and necessary voice. I’m grateful to Nancy Miller Gomez for Punishment. —Ellen Bass, author of The Courage to Heal ​ Whenever I begin to read a collection of poetry, I hope for that feeling of a wind in my chest, that the “top if my head is taken off.” This small collection by Nancy Miller Gomez did that for me. At only nine poems and two short autobiographical prose pieces, Punishment has more power than many other, much longer collections. Gomez has translated her experiences teaching poetry in prison into vital, living verse, without in any way betraying or making maudlin the essential reality of those incarcerated. —David Anthony Sam, on Goodreads ​Thank you, Nancy Miller Gomez, for taking us behind bars, for sharing searing stories relayed beyond guards—Lorenzo, we will never forget you—thank you also, Gomez, for the essays telling how saving lives saved yours. ‘Growing Apples’ in Cell C is reason for all of us to go on. How do we get this book to every appointed official? How do we get this book to everyone? —Grace Cavalieri, in Washington Independent Review of Books