I give all of my love, all of myself to the people who made this book, this life possible. Ariane, Felix, Alma—you are my everything. I’m grateful to the amazing people at Milkweed Editions—you are family, friends, and I so appreciate everything you do. Joey, this book owes an incredible amount to your crazy-good editing. The completion of this book was made possible by the generous support of TCU, which helped during the years it took to write this collection by awarding me a TCU-IS grant, a JFSRP grant, a Mid-Career Summer Fellowship, and a semester-long research leave. Thank you to my colleagues in the Department of English, especially our chair, Dr. Karen Steele, Dean of AddRan Andrew Schoolmaster, Dean Bonnie Melhart, Provost Nowell Donovan, Chancellor Victor Boschini (who always asks about the welfare of my family, and amazingly knows each of our names), and everyone associated with Ashland University’s MFA program.
Big love to the editors of the following publications for editorial suggestions and for publishing these pieces, sometimes in different iterations:
AGNI: “My Misogyny”
Copper Nickel: “Rabbit Hole Music”
Gulf Coast: “Becoming Animal: A History”
Literary Review: “EKG”
River Teeth: “How Long Before You Go Dry”
Rumpus: “King of the Rats”
Southern Review: “Heartdusting”
Sycamore Review: “Like So Many Nightmares”