A THEORY OF ASYLUM

Ossuary catacombs
empire de la mort
bone-piles dim-lit storied
with mottos, students
aboveground rioting
beside the cathedral.

Sherod Santos is the author of seven books of poetry. The Pilot Star Elegies was a finalist for both the National Book Award and The New Yorker Book Award.  His other honors include an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the B.F. Connors Long Poem Prize from Paris Review, and the Poetry Society of America's Lyric Poetry Prize.  His book of essays on poetry and poetics, A Poetry of Two Minds, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism.