Set against a backdrop of shifting weather and a blasted, mysterious landscape, Cactus Gardens explores the complexity and intensity of personal relationships. The narrator drifts through a variety of locales, from a hospital ward to a lakefront hotel, a downtown condo, and restaurant patios, depicting friendships that are as meaningful and volatile as romantic entanglements. The final section deals with the fallout of a disastrous relationship the author had with a much older, established writer. After publishing an essay about their relationship, Lau was filed with a lawsuit and subjected to intense media scrutiny, resulting in years of self-doubt and a complete retreat from prose writing. After feeling muzzled for years, she returned to poetry and found solace in the idea of the strength that arises from trauma. She was finally able to re-examine and write about the complicated relationship, excavating its tangle of memories and emotions. Those poems now form the final section of this book, The Salton Sea. Cactus Gardens is Evelyn Lau's ninth collection of poetry.