What the Water Gave Me contains fifty-two poems in the voice of the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Some of the poems are close interpretations of Kahlos work while others are parallels or version homages where Petit draws on her experience as a visual artist to create alternative paintings with words. More than just a verse biography this collection explores how Kahlo transformed trauma into art after the artists near-fatal bus accident. Petit with her vivid style her feel for nature & her understanding of pain & redemption fully inhabits Kahlos world. Each poem is an evocation of how art works on the pain spectrum laced with splashes of ferocious colour.