This is What the Desert Surrenders: New and Selected Poems

Griffin's poems body forth from a vision alert to an egret's oracular beauty, a vision also attuned to the plight of outcasts, 'those people on the street / soiled with the grain of hunger / and thrift store bins....' This is a voice of remarkable compassion; these are songs of both the natural and the all too many-made world. --Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate
From 'A leaf at the Board of Pardons' to 'The Meth Addict Out My Window,' Shaun Griffin's poetry is a meticulous chronicle of the people society fails, gives up on or simply condemns and locks away. He is at the same time a consummate nature poet, a contemplative, accurate singer of leaf, and the desert and sun. This is a selection to treasure. --Mary O'Malley, Author of Valparaiso from Carcanet Press

Shaun T. Griffin is one of Nevada's finest poets. He has published seven books of poetry, three poetry anthologies, and one translation. For many years he has taught a poetry workshop at Northern Nevada Correctional Center and published an annual journal of their work, Razor Wire. In 1995 he received the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts and in 2006 was awarded the Rosemary McMillan Lifetime Achievement in Art Award from Sierra Arts Foundation. Humanist, activist, and educator, Shaun Griffin has spent a lifetime building bridges where there were none for all members of the human community. He is the co-founder and director of Community Chest, a non-profit agency serving children and families in northwestern Nevada since 1991, and the former founding director of the state's homeless education office.