Maps of Injury

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Maps of Injury explores the journey from the body to heredity, traversing Southwestern roads, horse-filled pastures, and the kitchen sink to the well outside, as it reflects on a woman's autonomy within her landscape. The narrative follows a wife, daughter, and horsewoman grappling with chronic illness and the aftermath of an abusive marriage. This exploration of injury evokes empathy for creatures bridled, companioned, or abandoned. Hammons reveals how love manifests in every line, tracing a body’s history even after it has departed. A suffering horse is gently led to its grave, while an unidentified body lies in a field, prompting the speaker to reflect on her own worth—altered by illness and scrutinized by doctors, loved ones, and strangers. She contemplates who will remember her after death and how her connections will be honored. Will future generations recognize her desire to be wanted, despite the decay that consumes her? Animals, both wild and domestic, weave through these reflections and the landscapes that envelop them. The narrative considers the body's sovereignty amid relationships that shape its perception, revealing that, despite imposition and dismissal, these connections signify that she has been loved.