In his poem, "A Poet's Education," Campo says that he wanted poetry to "be romantic," unlike the cold corpses he dissected in Harvard's labs, and that he longed to find a way to expose the heart "without the scalpel's blade." This excellent collection achieves those aims. His writing gains power from his willingness to be fragile and his courage to cross boundaries some writers shy away from, for example in the wonderful poem "Marry Me," written for his partner Jorge.

Campo's three main themes--his role as an empathetic physician, his life as a passionate gay man, and his attempt to understand, honor, and integrate his Cuban heritage--integrate this collection with such compassion that no one theme dominates. These poems are also about music--the rhythm, form, and syncopation that mimic the body's own--and about language--how we search for the words that might connect us, doctor to patient, son to father, lover to loved.