CONTENTS * The Nopal * I. AFTERBIRTH, MOTHERHOUSE * I am dark I am forest * Creation Story :: Motherhouse * Girlchild Prophetess * The Birds * Of Color of Landscape of Tenuous Rope * The Flash * Tigers for Tamir Rice * Jer Bear & the Magical Thinking that Keeps Us * The Baby Monitor * Domestic * The Excavation * I Awoke Considering What Labor Would Feed My Children, * Endtimes Meditation on Mothering Self-Care * Detention Center * II. BLOOD BIRTH, ROT BIRTH * Genealogy with Something Sweet for the Voyage * Rubble Girl * Bloom * Girlwound :: Motherbound * Headless Mama Returns [Xmas 18 Refrain] * Sonnet as Corrido for this Busted Mami, y Yo * After Hearing of María Izquierdo for the First Time * Fish in the Air Girl * M o t h e r ! * La Llorona Sings Below Sea Level * La Casa Embrujada * III. BELLY TO THE BRUTAL * I Am Fat & When You Read This Poem, You Will Be Too * Nightfishing * San Jacinto River, Texas * When I'd Moved a Thousand Miles to Follow a Man * The Cattle Dog * Burn Down the Barn * The Bruise * Bruised Fruit Makes the Sweetest Pie * La Bruja Learns to Sing Her Name * Family Violence * Daughter Investment * Human Immunodeficiency Virus Results * [Even the Trees] * Belly to the Brutal * IV. REBIRTH, BIRTHRIGHT * Apocalypse Déjà vu * Today I Learned the Word Mondegreen * After Texas * Shooting Fish in a Barrel * dearhearts, we feel good when we do what we've evolved to do * My Brother Eats Menudo * Retablos & Other Miracles * Aubade for a Year [Without] * I Bride, I Mother, I Pierce Through the Casket * [I Am Raising] * Praise for Lukewarm Tortilla Soup & Dog Hair on the Upholstery * Creation Story * Bright City * The Decision * Acknowledgments.