I never enjoyed the act of reading poetry when I had to do it for literature classes. A poem requires too much attention; there's too many things to think about if you want to get to the core if its meaning. But I always liked the state of having read really good poetry - the feeling at the end after you've excavated all the lines of a poem for meter, sound, imagery, and metaphor, and the world hidden within its depths have been illuminated to you. This collection of poems by Natasha Trethewey is beautifully composed and endlessly evocative. Her poems deal with her biracial identity, her relationships with her parents, art, and the history of America seen through the lens of race. There are plenty of references and allusions to be mined, but doing the work of reading these poems is so rewarding.