No Charity in the Wilderness

A book of poetry focused on the Great Basin and on the Mexican/American border, along with family and the people with whom the author, Shaun Griffin, works. A tender observation of the natural world and our place in it, the collection invites readers to open their hearts to offer tolerance and understanding.

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No Charity in the Wilderness is a long journey into the new American West. From the southern border to the isolating two-lane highways in the desert, this collection is a prayer of reconciliation with so much that troubles us—those who live without resources or voices—and their possible future in this ever-changing landscape of desire.

Griffin has spent many decades in the high desert trying to find the way forward—when what he knows has been challenged and still there is breath on the horizon. One day an ancient Chinese poet comes to visit: "Snow deepens/ to quiet what I once believed, and Wang Wei stoops from the spine:/ this is how you become silence." Even if you doubt the old poet's counsel, like Griffin, you want to journey with him into the wilderness.