How does the graphic imagery of the first poem set the tone?

Anderson begins her first poem with the graphic image of her father witnessing "his buddy's head sliced into pieces,/sawn just above the eyebrows by an exploding/brake drum" (7). These lines resonate with the collection’s themes of violence and trauma. The lines are jarring and disconcerting; the tone is dark and foreboding.

How does Anderson use fairy tales to provide commentary on the way in which children are fed fabrications from adults?

Throughout the collection, Anderson alludes to the idea of fairy tales. She first references them in describing her mother's response to her father's physical abuse: "But beatings didn't fit in to the fairy tales/she liked to tell herself" (12). Her references to fairy tales allude to the way in which children are fed fantasies, but not prepared for realities like trauma, sexual...