Margaret Sáraco’s ekphrastic poetry stirs the roots of our human integrity, our subconscious, and our humanity. It is soulful and searches for the truths within us that we often try to gloss over

Margaret Sáraco’s dexterity as a poet is boldly on display in Even the Dog Was Quiet. The first three poems take you into the minds of an immigrant couple whose documentation was lost in a fire, a child who cannot understand the language of adults, and a dachshund whose human companion has died. You will feel you know each of them intimately. The whole book is full of little gems based on moments in Margaret’s life or stories about her family. After reading these poems you will understand more about the poet, about the human condition, and about yourself.”

This book is a kind of memoir in poems, a careful recounting and examination of the way Sáraco’s relationships over the course of life have shaped her, and how her memories have sustained and helped her find and make meaning from life. The poems study small interpersonal moments embedded in everyday life and pan back to consider the meaning of a life, and heart, full of thousands of these moments. This is a gorgeous book.