Yes, this is a sequence of poems representing child abuse, from the point of view of the deeply traumatized child, girl, woman.  But do not expect a conventional narrative.  These are poems of shocking cruelty that show how cruelty corrupts its victim, how it twists innocence into its opposite.  They are poems that show how sadism works, how sadism hooks itself onto sexuality.  These are also poems of formal mastery and even majesty, of pure flaming art, as clear as a stained glass window.

Alicia Ostriker, author of The Book of Seventy