Welcome back to a new episode of More Than a Monolith.  Today, I have the honor of being joined by Lee Herrick.  Lee Herrick is the California Poet Laureate and the first Asian American to hold the title. He is the author of three books of poems: Scar and Flower, Gardening Secrets of the Dead, and This Many Miles from Desire. In addition, his writings appear in a number of anthologies. He served as Fresno Poet Laureate from 2015-2017.  Born in Daejeon, Korea and adopted to the United States at ten months, he teaches at Fresno City College and the MFA program at the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe.  In our conversation, we talk about his personal experiences growing up as a Korean adoptee, his journey to poetry and his love of California.  We are even treated to Lee reading some of his poetry for us.  Our chat turned out to be a personal one for me and I’m really fortunate for this time together.