And so begins her quirky habits to gain acceptance

Through traditional native tales

compulsory religious instruction and practice

sustaining humor and spiritual visitations

lighting the way to the future

In the Hands of the River Upper Skagit And so begins her quirkyWhat can we do but seek nectar where it blooms, whispers the porous and questioning speaker of In the Hands of the River. With delicate precision, In the Hands of the River subverts traditional poetic forms to show how a childhood for a queer boy of both Cherokee and European heritage happens within and outside dominant narratives of Appalachia. This debut collection weaves ancestral and personal threads of trauma, reclamation, and survival into a