"Lot's Wife tells stories about heroines, especially the women of the Bible, fairy tales, and myth. Each poem suggests a possible solution to the mystery of gender and human identity. Mirriam-Goldberg has published widely already, and this, her first book, is a well crafted, important debut." — Denise Low, author of Tulip Elegies and Touching the Sky

It's a good thing the ocean got bigger.
Otherwise this shit would probably kill
the fish and then we'd have to take pairs
of biting eels and stuff.

I hate this life.
They wanted to take a boy for me
but he got more interested in my best friend,
so now they're both drowned.
I like the pony best. "Everything falls apart,"
Papa says, "when you don't stick
to your own species."
I hate Papa, too.
He doesn't know what he's doing.

I think of throwing myself overboard.
I think about throwing some rabbit over
or one of the mice.
No one would notice
and think how it could change
the rest of the millennium.
Maybe tonight I will.

"Maybe tonight we'll see land,"
Mama says. Yeah, and I'll sprout hooves.
I told you I hate this place,
everything smelling like old men and god.
I lean over the side of the ark
and throw up.

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