¿Esperanza Snyder is a poet of memory and experience, of longings and blue light, and the three actualities of her world, her past¿in Colombia, Europe, and the United States¿come vividly alive in this magical book of discoveries, of a woman who matures into her own country.¿ ¿ Edward Hirsch ¿Esperanza and Hope, is a moving and fully imagined autobiography in verse narrated by her nominal sister identities of passion and faith. Told with verve and wit, her story allows readers to live a double life that¿s as vivid and riotously complicated as a Jean-Luc Goddard film.¿ ¿ Michael Collier ¿There¿s a romance narrative of names here, ranging in territory from Colombia, America, Italy, and Spain. And these rich cognates reveal their personal history in a language of poetry saturated and in keeping with the oldest of themes¿love, loss, and reconciliation.¿¿ Stanley Plumly