"Floating somewhere between fiction and memoir, Burden of Ashes is a mesmerizing literary dreamscape in which childhood, homeland, and lovers both real and imagined succumb to whimsy, revision, and denial. Acclaimed poet, performer, and prose writer Justin Chin has created a place where snake killings, demonic possession, and the enigmatic power of a good kiss somehow coexist. Chin bounds with wild grace through actual events and fictional outcomes, reconciling what has been lost, outgrown, and abandoned with what never even was."--BOOK JACKET.