Pura Puta, the debut collection from slam champion Anna C. Martinez, tells the many stories of Woman-sensual, erotic, visceral, tragic, and always, always powerful-through Martinez's own life and the other women in her family in Los Angeles and northern New Mexico. The pieces dance with the unmistakable cadence of performance poetry and spring forth both tears and exuberance. Nearly nothing in this book is easy, because her life has not been easy either. But triumph counters trauma, and the poems return to an eternal freedom, hard-earned through all the stages of her life. These are stories that need heard, from a poet who demands your full heart.