In a stunning and visceral debut, Noah Davis ushers in a new era of poems from the Alleghenyregion of Appalachia. In chronicling the river valley’s human and more-than-human worlds through acts of modern myth making, Davis expands the scope of contemporary American poetry. This soulful meditation on a neglected region of America reveals a legacy of lingering violence to land and animal alike. In striking stories and scenes, Davis portrays the spiritual cost of deep poverty, the necessity to ask for forgiveness, and the joy in praising the beauty still found in the steep hollows. These poems will cling to you like water on the soles of your boots.

Contents First Memory of Water Drowning as Taught by Short-Haired Girl Small Histories Woman Who Will Be Short-Haired Girl’s Mother Plants Potatoes after a Night Trying to Conceive Short-haired girl Corpuscular Ridge and Valley as Taught by Short-Haired Girl Skins Learning to Talk to Animals as Told by Short-Haired Girl Saint Francis Short-Haired Girl Visits Her Cousin Who Moved Back Home Last Week Woman Who Catches Kingfishers Short-Haired Girl Goes to Church Thursday nights How Blood Becomes the River Brown Trout Tells Short-Haired Girl about the End of October Short-Haired Girl’s Brother Watches Her Gut a Deer Dream in Which I Sin and Weep Myself Awake Kissing the Woman Carried in Bear’s Mouth Hunger The Language of Silt Coyote Tells Short-Haired Girl about Loving His Brother The Story of the Raven King as Told by Short-Haired Girl’s Brother Murmuration on Bell Tip Road Lightnin’ Hopkins Returns as a Bluetick Hound Short-Haired Girl’s Grandmother Speaks of the Dead What Names the Moon Gives Short-Haired Girl’s Aunt Tells Her about November Again In fields where junco What Was Left Short-Haired Girl Praises a Child on a Horse Mending Short-Haired Girl’s Aunt Tells Her about the Woman Who Eats the River Feeding Hogs as Taught by Short-Haired Girl Every day is a god Oil as Taught by Short-Haired Girl Winter Solstice Short-Haired Girl’s Dead Cousin Visits June Evening Short-Haired Girl’s Father Catalogues Summer Afternoon First Love as Told by Short-Haired Girl Map of the Body Short-Haired Girl Dreams of Her Family Menstruation as Taught by Short-Haired Girl Lottery Tickets Short-Haired Girl Visits Her Brother August Market Snapping Turtle Tells Short-Haired Girl about Loneliness What It Means for the Bear to Eat Ash February New Moon Short-Haired Girl’s Father Confesses Her Conception Short-Haired Girl Stops Going to Church