Point of Entry

Katherine DiBella Seluja is a pediatric nurse practitioner and the author of Gather the Night: Poems (UNM Press).

• Desert ManifestBorder Patrol: Truth Be ToldAll the Heroes Are SilentReport from the UndertakerBecause Our Lives Are Small Fires Buried under Dry FieldsWe Never Admit the burden of a Star Living in our ChestHumanitarian ReleaseTo Be Carried This WayI Am Told Their Marriage Was Arranged(Mi amorcito . . .)CarciofoIn Your Letter You Asked about CeremonyMonastery in the Desert, Abiquiu, New MexicoSuch Is the Story of LeavingMy Grandfather Teaches Me How to Flay the HeartCaceroleadaLetter to My Suegra from Artesia, New MexicoThe Function of WallsDe la tormenta: Desert SurvivalBorder Patrol: Por supuestoHow to Lose One Thousand Four Hundred Seventy-Five ChildrenUnsigned AffidavitPoint of EntryMy Grandmother Told the Story This WayLetter from the Sky: Dear BorderPostmortem VariationsIn the Drawer of My Grandmother's Writing Desk, the Dead RestConsider the NightI Am Told Her Parents Knew Nothing of the PlanYour Grandmother's BologneseOn the Day I Order My Ancestry Kit, I Also Order Scopa CardsWe the Dead(Querida . . .)Freight TrainThe Joy of the Moment Turns Suddenly into a Black Hood with OpeningsFor One Brief and Shining Moment She Held the World in Her BodyThree Angel StudiesHouse Made of Fog and GoodwillLament for Joaquin MaciasIn the Pima County Medical Examiner's OfficeBorder Response (Deconstructed)Legend of the Compassionate BrigadeCesare's GiftTo Be Part of Something Complete and GreatI Ask My Grandmother to Repeat the StoryPoem with a Writing Studio and a Cherry Tree Growing from WithinNovember FruitApril, in a Town Full of FoolsWe Are Welcomed Home by the USBorder Patrol: La doctora sabeI Am Told They Remained after the WarThe Trees Were Filled with Blossoms but No Bees(Mi Estrella . . .)NotesAcknowledgementsCredits

Katherine Seluja's new book enriches the literature of diaspora and the border. These cogent, clear-eyed poems acknowledge death and injustice but also celebrate phenomenal survival and resilience. Point of Entry is a humane, consistently compelling volume that reminds us what love, courage, and perseverance look like."—Cyrus Cassells, author of The World That the Shooter Left Us "In Point of Entry, Katherine DiBella Seluja examines the fraught, contested body of our southern border. Grounded in our current moment, the book also acknowledges the many journeys, across centuries, that terrified children, adults, and families have taken from one country to another. This is a book that recognizes poetry's duty to witness, to speak, and to question the function of fences and walls."—Jehanne Dubrow, author of Wild Kingdom: Poems "These masterful poems render through body and breath an inner world, an exterior life, a tender, hungry humanity and spirit in action."—Catherine Strisik, author of The Mistress"With her usual keen attention, sharp eye, and lush language, Seluja walks us through fatal journeys, fractured landscapes, and family histories both broken and enduring. These stunning poems hold precious secrets for survival even as they document grief and loss."—Amy Beeder, author of Now Make an Altar