For St. Louis native and YourWordsSTL executive director Anna Ojascastro Guzon, poetry has never been a quick project. Her debut book of poetry, A Moth Collection, is a compilation of more than two decades of poems, a process shaped by her experiences in medicine, motherhood, teaching, family history, and a lifelong love of literature.
“It has been a more than 20-year process writing this book,” Guzon says. “Some of these poems—I think the oldest poem in there is from 2004—were written while I was in graduate school for an MFA while I was living in New York City.”
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The St. Louis native, who returned to the city 14 years ago, has worn many hats over the years: medical student, science teacher, nonprofit leader, mother, and writer. Those experiences, alongside personal and cultural history, became part of the foundation for her poetry. Rather than separating her vast array of experiences from her creative work, she says they naturally became intertwined within her poetry.
“The inspiration for the poems has been a whole patchwork,” she says. “Books, movies, things people say, friends, family, pop culture, pop music, my family’s history, stories passed down from grandparents and parents, and my experiences in medicine and teaching.”
That broad range of influences reflects the nonlinear path Guzon took toward publishing her first collection. Though A Moth Collection is her debut book, the desire to become a writer has existed for nearly her entire life. As she puts it, “Since I knew how to read, I’ve probably had the goal of writing and publishing a book.”
Eventually, after accumulating “dozens and dozens” of pieces, she began shaping them into a manuscript.
“I went back and sifted out what poems I thought went together and what I thought was the best of what I had written,” she says.
Even then, Guzon struggled with knowing when the work was truly finished. She first submitted an early version of the manuscript years ago after graduate school, but continued revising and refining the collection over time before finally deciding it was ready to share publicly. That long process culminated in A Moth Collection being picked up by Finishing Line Press and published in May 2026. While the poems span decades of Guzon’s life, the collection is tied together by recurring themes of transformation, survival, and reinvention. The title itself reflects the book’s central idea.
“Moths go through a metamorphosis,” Guzon says. “But in this book, it refers to multiple metamorphoses, dying and then having a new life, and dying again and having a new life.”
For Guzon, that idea extends beyond literal change and instead speaks to the many identities and versions of a person that can emerge throughout adulthood. Through careers, relationships, motherhood, loss, and personal reinvention, she believes many readers will recognize pieces of themselves within the collection.
“I think any adult could find something that speaks to them in the book,” she says, “especially someone who feels they’ve lived more than one life.”
As A Moth Collection begins reaching readers, Guzon says she hopes to organize readings in St. Louis and elsewhere in the coming months. Though this first collection is not heavily centered on St. Louis itself, Guzon says the city has become increasingly present in her newer writing since returning home. She is already halfway through a second poetry collection, one she describes as “very St. Louis-heavy,” featuring stories and experiences rooted specifically in the region.
“Being around family again in St. Louis has inspired some new poetry too,” Guzon says. “There’s a lot in St. Louis that inspires me.”
