Read it [Smuggling Cherokee] straight through like a novel, full of characters and stories that evoke and compel. Read it aloud so you can hear its notes falling from your tongue, some held and others released quickly, some trilling and echoing in the wind of your voice. Read it slowly so it can reveal the layers that are tightly woven in the seemingly simple rendered verse. Read it more quickly so you can laugh at the jokes that come page after page. Read it when you have time for tears, or your own memories of death and survival, love and abandonment. However you approach Smuggling Cherokee, its clarity and depth will fill your spirit and heart.
—devorah major
poet laureate of San Francisco, emerita
author of where river meets ocean
