I’m grateful to the editors of the following journals in which some of these poems first appeared: Appalachian Journal: “Tender”; Cerise Press: “Where I’m From”; Cortland Review: “Harvest”; Crab Orchard Review: “The Naming of the Scars”; Massachusetts Review: “Psalm of Leah”; and from Ploughshares: “Leah Will Say Nothing” and “Ringstraked.” “The Father’s Story” first appeared under a different title in my first book, One of Everything.
I wrote this book with the help of A Room of Her Own Foundation. The AROHO Gift of Freedom supported me financially for two years while I wrote and AROHO continues to support me professionally and spiritually. The leadership, Darlene Chandler Bassett, Mary Johnson, Kate Gale and Tracey Cravens-Gras, and the AROHO community have been a source of friendship and wisdom I could not do without. My life on and off the page is sweeter and richer for their presence in it.