Though the poems in this book take the reader on a South American journey from Chile to the Galapagos, it is not just another travel book. It's a personal invitation in the form of a poem a day to join the writer in strange and exotic places. The spectacular beauty of cascading water at the Iguassu Falls, a weather-beaten face in a Peruvian marketplace, the roasted guinea pig on the Last Supper table in Cusco Cathedral's altar picture - these were among the triggers for the daily poem. Of Llamas and Piranhas is an individual record of moments that became memories.

'Valerie...