Poetry. In PRICKING, Cuello smoothly erases the present moment and foregrounds the terrors of sectarian conflict and religious oppression. Esclarmonde de Foix, Jeanne d'Arc, and the unfortunate victims of witch hunts tell their truths in spare personas and lyrics. Eloquent clarity and precision combine with lyrical understatement to give Cuello's poems a haunting resonance and make religious history and its consequence for women's lives immediate, disturbing, and poignant. --Janice Harrington