This is a beautiful, stunning poetry collection about the identities and lived experiences of an Afro-Latina woman from NYC. I marked so many entire poems and lines as faves - my copy bursting with post it tabs. Marte's poems about Hispaniola were insightful and thoughtful. They made me interested in learning more about Haiti and Dr's tumultuous history despite sharing an island. At the core of Marte's collection is the power of telling one's own story. Rather than let anti-Blackness rhetoric erase her identity -- she is unapologetic about bracing both her African ancestry and Dominican culture. Marte also explored what is lost in immigration -- leaving a kind of paradise for a land that doesn't accept you as you are, wanting you to become something else. I really loved her way with language. It was accessible and easy to udnerstand-- heart-first vs. Head-first poetry is my fave some poems did make me think but most made me FEEL- warm, mad, shocked, disappointed, understood, stunned, etc. Overall, loved this poetry collection and would highly recommend for folks who enjoy works about cultural identity, home, belonging, family, immigrantion, and history.