The book consists of two sorts of poems. The numbered "Imagined Sons" poems are little scenes where the author/narrator imagines, over a period of years, just what might have become of the son she gave up for adoption at birth in 1986. She imagines all sorts of destinies for him from the mundane (supermarket clerk) to the lively (singer-songwriter). Sometimes the scenes are realistic and sometimes they are steeped in the surreal: "visions" that evoke nightmares or practical jokes. The other "Birthmother's Catechisms" poems present the author/narrator's emotions more nakedly, in chorus-like laments for what might be or might have been.
