Emily Pérez

HPPR Poets on the Plains, Featured Poet

EMILY PÉREZ (b. 1976) is the author of two poetry collections: House of Sugar, House of Stone (Center for Literary Publishing, 2016) and What Flies Want (University of Iowa Press, 2022), which was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award. her work has appeared in periodicals such as The Guardian, The Georgia Review, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, and Rhino, and she has received grants and scholarships from Bread Loaf, the Community of Writers, Hedgebrook, and Jack Straw Writers. She lives in Denver and works as a high school teacher and grade-level dean. Read more at https://emilyperez.org/poems-and-essays-online or
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/laura-hershey

HPPR Features

Poets on the Plains: On Lockdown – First Grade by Emily Pérez

Wayne Miller

Hi, I’m Wayne Miller. I’m a poet who lives in Denver, Colorado, and I’m here for Poets on the Plains. Today I’m going to read a poem by the poet Emily Pérez. Pérez grew up in Weslaco, Texas, just a few miles north of the US-Mexico border. She studied at Stanford and the University of Houston before settling in Denver, where she works as a high school teacher and grade-level dean and lives with her husband and their two boys.