What Turtle Blood Tastes Like

Abstract

What Turtle Blood Tastes Like explores acts of initiation and the packs we run with: wild boys, family, animal companions. Turtle blood acts as an elixir, opening doors to the muck of childhood, that coursing of heat and blood felt in the ears while walking the edge of right and wrong. In these poems fatherhood and home ownership are impending disasters that complicate the domestic landscape. Origin stories emerge unexpectedly from gardens, in bites of pickled whitefish and the gold foil of butterscotch candy. What routes have led us here, from what seeds have we grown? The critical essay, “Subverting Sentimentality in the Poetry of Parenthood,” scrutinizes elements of craft in contemporary American poetry that unpack tropes and reveal the overlooked undercurrents of parenting.