The landscape of is South Dakota, a place of extremes, where parched land meets frigid air and exiled Native Americans still struggle to live in peace alongside ranchers. Nystrom’s poems weave together the voices of her childhood with ghosts of the last two tumultuous centuries and articulate with such subtle and unsentimental grace that each side is understood. was born in Pierre, South Dakota. She is the author of one previous book, . She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, and teaches at the University of Virginia.