Tangled by Blood

Some stories are too difficult to pen straight. Tangled by Blood, a memoir in verse, is one of those stories. It follows the journey of a daughter, Rebecca, suffering betrayal by her mother. As she matures, memories of Rebecca's adopted sister's fierce protection surface. Only after giving birth, Rebecca begins to untangle childhood deceit and wounds, re-storying what it means to be a mother. Unlike other memoirs, Tangled by Blood is not a tale of redemption, but one of hard-earned love and high stakes. Through a shifting POV, Tangled by Blood offers social commentary on abuse, sexual trauma, addiction, and suicide. The poems and prose in Tangled by Blood reflect, among many things, fractured intimacy. This fracturing influences every subsequent relationship-carrying scars and wounds throughout one's life.