The Intricated Soul gathers poems from five previous books. Sherod Santos's identity as a poet is based on his courageous resolve to take on the most difficult subjects. Whether writing about love, madness, or genocide, he engages "the most moving truths we can know about our shared humanity" (Washington Post). "Southern Gothic" Poor white and pining, the full moon coins Its water-buckled image on a welling tide That rakes the shingle back across the strand, A bone-clatter by which fate decides the youngest Child in a family of nine will be the first to die (The date marked by an asterisk in the family Bible That records such things) from illness, Or an overdose, or a traffic accident.