In Open The Fist, the poet navigates the primal impulses of sexuality, violation and reclamation. She shines a light into the dark corners of her family dynamics, grappling with what it means to be born a girl, to survive into womanhood and to look back. These poems bear witness to the healing power of truth-telling. Childhood trauma may cast its long shadow, but through the alchemy of poetry, Braden transforms her past into a path to forgiveness. In the end, the reader celebrates with the poet as she exclaims: "Risk the ricochet of fate/taunt the gods/with your raucous joy!"