Belly to the Brutal

In her latest, award-winning Mexican American poet/novelist Givhan (Rosa’s Einstein; River Woman, River Demon) investigates motherhood in lush, viscous language while also touching on social oppression and masculine inconstancy. She begins with the physical closeness of motherhood (“Once I held a body wide enough// to shelter to two small loves”), then assesses the mixed joy and anxiety of watching them grow (“I open the door & spill her out[,] … my motherheart stringing behind her”)—because, as she says, “the last time I died I was defending what I love.” A sense of her own impuissance in the face of men and society (“the Texas man who convinced me to hand/ over the lockbox & made me something akin to love since love had always been/ shame & pain”) leads to a determination that her children will be stronger (“I am raising…..a daughter/ a nation/ a knife”). Throughout, Givhan communicates how important being a mother has been to her (“My 8-yr-old daughter is teaching me/ how to live with myself”), and it is these canny perceptions that make the book.