"Every story has two sides, including those less often spoken about in writing. Natalie Scenters-Zapico defies this notion in her riveting second collection, Lima:: Limon. It's a book about doubling-the domestic versus the public, and how beauty can't exist without its counterpart. . . . Reading Natalie's books teaches me the importance of being vulnerable and unapologetic. Her work continually inspires me to push boundaries without guilt. It documents life and death. Without her voice, I wouldn't be as courageous, both on and off the page."--Eduardo Martíiacute;nez-Leyva, Electric Lit

"Reading the book doesn't make me feel better. It makes me weep with anger and frustration. It opens the wounds people try to ignore. It calls the ambulance."--Indiana Review

"Her poems in this collection are dark, visceral, haunting, and will echo for days in your mind. . . . Throughout, she builds and breaks down the boundaries of love, place, identity, and memory in ways that are unexpected, and uses them to great effect to write the political and engage us in the surreal violence of our time."--American Literary Review

"In these poems, the border is a powerful metaphor, but it is never merely trope; it is actual, political, damaging."--The Kenyon Review

"These poems are coyotes that will leave you waterless in the middle of the desert. . . The Verging Cities pulls no punches, yet it is also tender and intelligent."--Blue Mesa Review

"With poems that are as intelligent as they are urgent, Natalie Scenters-Zapico offers a necessary poetic voice in these perilous times."--University of New Mexico English News & Notes

"[B]ooks like The Verging Cities must be not only written, but read--and read well. You will not win a staring contest with Natalie Scenters-Zapico; this poet cannot, and will not, look away."--American Microreviews and Interviews