“This is an astounding debut collection, a sustained chain of thirty-one poetic journal entries the author first drafted while working for a clinic in the highlands of Guatemala.   Kit Pepper, a runner with a machete-sharp eye for detail and a linguist’s ear for polyphonous sound, takes us on a journey of self-discovery through a landscape of beguiling beauty and heart-wrenching poverty, over cobblestone streets and pot-holed roads, up and down the steep paths of La Gruta gorge, through bird-filled pine forests, and past laundry cast over cacti, packs of snarling, maltreated dogs, and garbage dumps circled by vultures with heads like conquistador helmets. Buckle up for a breath-taking ride.”   Ruth R. Pierson   “Simply radiant sight! This novel long poem journal offers 31 days as runs—at and into—the act of compassion that seeing and hearing clearly can be. Exotic beauty—as stumbling block—trips metaphor—or ignores it. Kit Pepper speaks of terrible beauty with forthrightness as fresh as slaps of light!”   Phil Hall