Contents
Nashville
I. I Can't Talk
Cross/Bite
Cottonmouth
Bear Witness
Soil Horizon
Conversation with Phillis Wheatley #1
Conversation with Phillis Wheatley #2
Conversation with Phillis Wheatley #7
Conversation with Phillis Wheatley #14
Ways to Be Saved
Dead Bug
Tim
Dutchman in Reverse
800 Days: Libation
The Ayes Have It
Ode to the Only Living Object that Survived
II. About the Trees
After Apollo
After Agon
After Orpheus
The Rime of Nina Simone
III. Without the Blood
BBHMM
First Tree, at Church Camp
First Blood
Self-Portrait as First Kiss
What the Blood Does
Where the Fired Body Is Porous
Self-Portrait as Hannah Peace
Mother Driving Away After Christmas
In the Middle of Things . . .
Freelove in Retrograde
I Started Praying for You
After Amistad
Midnight to 3 A.M.
Rituals
Mixed Bitch
Epilogue
How to Find the Center of a Circle
Notes
Acknowledgments