The Speaker - Author - Poet

Initially, the main voice of the poems in the collection has a certain anonymity to it, in the sense that at least for the first few poems, there are no clear references to gender, cultural identity, or situation. Eventually, as Part 1 (“the hurting”) unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that the speaker is not only female and not only from a cultural and family situation that tends to devalue women – it also becomes clear that she has been sexually abused during her childhood (and youth?) as a result of both those aspects of her identity.

Then, throughout Parts 2 and 3, the sense of these aspects of the speaker’s identity deepen and take on additional meaning, as Part 2 explores the experiences of being a woman of a particular ethno-cultural origin in a relationship that is intimate physically, sexually, and emotionally; and as Part 3 explores the...