The Speaker

The recurring speaker is the primary voice and character throughout the collection. In many of the poems early on in the book she is a young, pubescent girl dealing with all the complexities and conflicts of growing up as a female in the face of societal gender stereotypes. We see her age throughout the book into young adulthood as she continues to deal with many of the same issues. Over the course of the collection she is confronted by sexism, gender politics, feelings of being an outsider, toxic relationships, conflicting identities, and even her own internalized misogyny.

At a relatively young age, the speaker moves from Albuquerque, New Mexico to the island of Trinidad off of the northern coast of Venezuela. She has a difficult time adjusting to life after such a significant upheaval. However, many of the relationships she forms with the people her age in...