In “Our Lands Are Not So Different,” Michael Bazzett’s second collection, Bazzett follows his distinct voice—nonchalant, urbane, and recklessly sardonic—toward a place wedged between the embarrassment of carnality and the inadequacy of civility. In its endless desire to find kinship and understanding—not only with an other but also with itself—“Our Lands…” asks what to do when the part of the self that feels most estranged is the part of the self that feels most authentic.

Michael Bazzett is a poet and teacher. His debut collection, You Must Remember This, received the 2014 Lindquist & Vennum Prize for Poetry from Milkweed Editions. His translation of The Popul Vuh, the first English verse version of the Mayan creation epic, is forthcoming from Milkweed, as is The Interrogation, another collection of poems. The recipient of a 2017 NEA fellowship in Poetry, he lives in Minneapolis with his wife and two children.