My Own True Name : New and Selected Poems for Young Adults, 1984-1999

In this anthology, Pat Mora has gathered the best of her poems with young-adult readers in mind, and has added to them several new poems published here for the first time.

Using the cactus plant as her guiding metaphor for our existence, she presents more than sixty lyrics grouped variously into "Blooms," "Thorns," and "Roots."

Each section opens with a line drawing by artist Anthony Accardo, and the whole is prefaced by a brief introduction, "Dear Fellow Writer," in the poet's uniquely warm and informal voice.

Much like a blossoming young man or woman, My Own True Name has been fifteen years in the making. And lovers of poetry will find it - like a lovingly tended garden - an eye-opening and delightful place to enjoy and explore.