Conchita, a voluptuous, headstrong single woman of a certain age, sees nothing wrong with enjoying the company of handsome--and usually much younger--men . . . that is, until she encounters a widower with unusual gifts and begins to think about what she really wants out of life.

Julieta, Conchita's younger sister, walks a more traditional path, but she and her husband each harbor secrets that...

This anthology features the vitality and variety of verse in the City of Angels, a city of poets. This is more about range then representation, voice more than volume. Los Angeles has close to 60 percent people of color, 225 languages spoken at home, and some of the richest and poorest persons in the country. With an expansive 502.7 square miles of city (and beyond, including the massive county of 4,752.32 square miles), the poetry draws on imagery, words, stories, and imaginations that are also vast, encompassing, a real "leaves of grass."

Well-known poets include Holly Prado, Ruben...

The characters here represent all walks of L.A. life--from Satan's reluctant Craigslist roommate to a young girl coping with trauma at her brother's wake--and their tales ebb and flow among various styles, including magical realism, social realism,...