Belly to the Brutal - Wesleyan Poetry Series | Contemporary American Poetry Book | Perfect for Poetry Lovers, Book Clubs & Literary Gifts

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Poetry for all the mothers and daughters healing the bloodlinesBelly to the Brutal sings a corrido of the love between mothers and daughters, confronting the learned complicity with patriarchal violence passed down from generation to generation. This poetry edges into the borderlands, touching the realm of chora―humming, screaming, rhythm―transporting the words outside of patriarchal and racist constructs. Drawing from curanderisma and a revived wave of feminist brujería, Jennifer Givhan creates a healing space for Brown women and mothers. Each poem finds its own form, interweaving beauty and devastation to create a pathway out of the systems that have for too long oppressed women. The poems dwell in the thick language of "motherfear," "where love grows too / in the shining center of the wound." This poetry of invocation moves toward a transformation of violence that is ultimately redemptive.Today I Learned the Word MondegreenWhich means to misinterpret from mishearingthe lyrics in a way that gives new meaningas I have long misheard the homophony of my heart.I take it to mean the first flush of life after winter, that deepneed to keep growing after all your once-brightblossoms have seeded or wilted away.Have you ever needed to lieflat as if dead against the rockmarked earth& listen to the voices licking against the skyyour past shuffling through the leaves like a remixtill you finally realize what your life has meant―& it aches?When the truth comes, let it come like jewelweedwilding beside the poison ivy. The antidotewithin our reach.