Reimagining the story of Genesis, the prototypical Adam, Eve, gardens, and angels are reframed and given unexpectedly abrasive voice; beginnings are recounted as humans struggle to become themselves against the mirror of history. In richly contemplative voice, the theologian examines “what the gaze is for.” Ó Tuama’s poems are reflective, exploring memory and memory’s pain; queerness and country—each with borderlines of anguished history; the encroachment of empire, down to the forced imposition of language and its complex lines of oppression. Throughout the collection, Ó Tuama employs diverse forms, including the sonnet, the villanelle, sequences, odes, and elegies, written in direct language that echoes everyday speech as easily as it does prayer.