Many of these poems honour the poet's brother, who died of AIDS; his Spirit-in rhinestone tiara, crimson crepe de Chine, and flamingo-pink pumps-is the muse of the book, watching over Foster's shoulder as she explores and explodes the myths of our culture, the definitions in our dictionaries, and the categories of identity that define and confine us. Some of the poems revisit childhood, recalling a little boy who was "all toys and talk," observing that "boys will be boys/until dying makes them men."