The flap of a butterfly's wing in one part of the world can cause devastating storms on the other side, just as the word "lesbian"--a force full of vitality and world-changing creativity--can destroy families and bring down governments. Evoking the ancient worlds of pre-Vedic and Sapphic lovers, medieval jonglaresas, and nuns "fingering petals and hips," as well as the contemporary world of circuses, global politics, friendship, betrayal, and death, the poems in this collection fold in on themselves, exploding into concentric rings of meaning, rich in symbol and metaphor.