The essay collection explores the idea of difficulty in contemporary women's poetry.  In other words, what motivates writers to create purposefully difficult texts?  In what ways is textual difficulty politically charged? As Darling explores these questions, her essays consider recent poetry and hybrid work from women, non-binary writers, and writers of color.  Darling argues that textual difficulty constitutes a provocative reversal of power, in which writers from historically marginalized groups within society can decide who is allowed into the imaginative terrain they have created. In constructing this argument, Darling shows the full range and artistic possibilities inherent in contemporary texts that foreground textual difficulty as an aesthetic gesture.