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What does heaven offer us? Catalogue of Ripening lurches from disaster to disaster-climate, school shootings, personal illness, recording what the youngest generation confronts by the minute. Guo hits a wry note in Afterlife, where coins [spill] from the pockets of Shangdi, God of Heaven and all things. But on earth, Guo observes, Your house shelters / no infant, so cradle yourself. What Heaven offers us is us. And while this is not the answer we always want, these poems argue for realism over myth-the activist who crosses borders illegally, the doctor's hand that does not shake, and, sublimely, an extra canteen of ice. - Esther Lin, author of The Ghost Wife One day, my children should swim in clear waters, Sabrina Guo writes in her book Catalogue of Ripening. It's the should that breaks my heart, and brings to mind all the shoulds that are at stake. After reading these poems, I look to the world, like Guo, and catalogue everything that gleams in the moonlight, and everything that burns in the sun. Through aubades and elegies and dexterous forms, through poems that look to the soil and poems that look to the stars, Guo teaches me to notice. Notice each plant in my window. Notice which stem carries water to the leaves. These poems carry water. These poems ripen in your mind long after you have finished reading them. - Hieu Minh Nguyen, author of Not Here Catalogue of Ripening is dazzling. With delicious recklessness, gutting narratives, and visceral metaphors, Sabrina Guo plunges headlong into toxic waters. Death is inescapable here: it lurks in the food and drinking water, in the schools, on childhood beaches, and even at home. But her writing is not without hope-and the poems themselves are part of the antidote: language itself could extract the mercury / from her blood, her tissue, her bone, her brain, her / memory-bit by poisonous bit. - Emma Winsor Wood, author of The Real World Guo gestures to a world rife with violence and vibrant bodies that blossom awake by night. Family history lurks behind every corner; from poisoned rivers to New England hospitals to lipstick smears. How must a daughter ripen-when she has already begun to rot? With rich poetic sensibility and heartbreaking honesty, Guo's speakers dare to dance at knifepoint, where mothers and Mother Earth watch in soured silence. All the fruit has fallen, but Guo invites us to pick up the pieces anyway; to startle at the beauty of morning. - Stephanie Chang, author of SAINTLESS In this luminous collection of poetry, Sabrina Guo's keen observations on the difficult issues of our times, are refracted through the prism of her own wisdom-gathering and experience as a young writer navigating a challenging world. Her impressive skill with language, and imaginative exploration of theme, show a writer who sees and strives to make sense of the world, and make Catalogue of Ripening an offering of hope. - Molly Hill, editor of Blue Marble Review Guo's Catalogue of Ripening is a remarkable collection of verses culled from Generation Z and those who came before. Reading this incredible book, one wonders how such maturity, insight, and skill are present in someone so young. Guo is an ambitious writer, and her work takes us from paper cranes to semiautomatic weapons, contaminated waterways, and suicidal ideation. An absolutely stunning work. - Betsy Adams, Truman Capote Writing Fellow

Guo's Catalogue of Ripening gestures to a world rife with violence and vibrant bodies that blossom awake by night. Family history lurks behind every corner; from poisoned rivers to New England hospitals to lipstick smears. How must a daughter ripen-when she has already begun to rot? With rich poetic sensibility and heartbreaking honesty, Guo's speakers dare to dance at knifepoint, where mothers and Mother Earth watch in soured silence. All the fruit has fallen, but Guo invites us to pick up the pieces anyway; to startle at the beauty of morning. - Stephanie Chang, author of SAINTLESS Guo is an ambitious writer, and her work takes us from paper cranes to semiautomatic weapons, contaminated waterways, and suicidal ideation. An absolutely stunning work. - Betsy Adams, Truman Capote Writing Fellow A mini-epic that charts the changes that have, are, and that may happen over generations - the grand narrative that all alive now play a part in. There is suffering here, but also that vital force - hope, as we glimpse an aspirational future. - Jonnie Hughes, director of David Attenborough, A Life on Our Planet, at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference These poems ripen in your mind long after you have finished reading them. - Hieu Minh Nguyen, author of Not Here

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Sabrina Guo is a young writer and activist from New York. The youngest global winner of the Poems to Solve the Climate Crisis challenge, she spoke out against climate injustice and performed her winning poem in the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26). She has received the Civic Expression Award, the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, nine national medals from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and was recognized by the Adroit Prizes and the Bennington College Young Writers Awards. Her work has been published in Best Teen Writing, Raleigh Re-view, West Trestle Review, and Counterclock, among others. The founder of Girl Pride Internation-al and Long Island Laboring Against COVID-19, Sabrina's writing and humanitarian work have been profiled by Disney and Long Island Business News 30 Under 30, and were recognized by President George H.W. Bush's Daily Point of Light Award, the Princeton Prize in Race Relations, and the President's Lifetime Achievement Award.

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