Rag Trade Poems

One of New Mexico's finest contemporary poets, Miriam Sagan has consistently explored emotional clarity and compassion within life's myriad interactions. In her new book, Rag Trade, she presents poems of borders - between nations and cultures, in history and the imagination. Crossing borders braids lives. Fabric serves as metaphor throughout these poems, whether the ikats of the Silk Road, prayer flags of Tibet, Rio Grande rug weaving, the garment industry of New Jersey, or Jewish ritual coverings. War, travel, immigration, and trade bring together people and ideas that don't necessarily belong together but which lead to new connections and social dynamics. Rag Trade also includes poems on women artists, such as South-western architect Mary Jane Colter and the painter Emily Carr, which reveal the unforeseen but entwining influences on personal history. Miriam Sagan is author of more than a dozen books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Her most recent books include a memoir, Searching for a Mustard Seed, and poetry, Archeology of Desire; The Widow's Coat; and The Art of Love (La Alameda Press). She is also the author of Dirty Laundry: 100 Days in a Zen Monastery; Unbroken Line: Writing in the Lineage of Poetry; co-editor with Joan Logghe of Another Desert: the Jewish Poetry of New Mexico; and co-editor with Sharon Niederman of New Mexico Poetry Renaissance.