“self-portrait as ’90s R&B video” is loosely inspired by the music video for Tamia’s “Stranger in My House.”

The end of “my bitch!” is a gesture to the ending of Nicole Sealey’s “Object Permanence.”

“C.R.E.A.M.” is after Wu-Tang Clan’s song of the same title and Morgan Parker’s poem “ALL THEY WANT IS MY MONEY, MY PUSSY, MY BLOOD.”

“acknowledgments” includes segments inspired by commenters on a Facebook post where I asked people when they knew their best friend was indeed their best friend.

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Thank you to the following publications and their editors, teams, and readers for giving early drafts of these poems their first homes and their gracious support of the work:

Adroit Journal—self-portrait as a ’90s R&B video

BOAAT Journal—all the good dick lives in Brooklyn Park

The Collagist—shout out to my niggas in Mexico, saw a video of a gang of bees swarming a hornet who killed their bee-homie so i called to say i love you

The Fight and The Fiddle—the fat one with the switch, niggas!

Freeman’s—what was said at the bus stop

Harvard Divinity Journal—old confession & new

Homology Lit—rose, gay cancer

Hyperallergic—my nig

Into—the flower who bloomed thru the fence in grandmama’s yard

Los Angeles Review of Books—waiting on you to die so i can be myself

Narrative—happy hour

The New Yorker—undetectable

The Paris Review—my bitch!

Poem-A-Day—in lieu of a poem, i’d like to say, say it with your whole black mouth, C.R.E.A.M.

Poetry—how many of us have them?, jumped!, dogs!, sometimes i wish i felt the side effects, broke n rice, notes, acknowledgments

The Rumpus—for Andrew, ode to gold teeth

The Sun—trees!

Waxwing—on faggotness

Broadside Press released a broadside of “fall poem.”

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Thank you to Jeff Shotts and Parisa Ebrahimi for your vision, your candor, your green pen blessings, and your friendship, dear editors.

Thank you to the entire team at Graywolf Press and Chatto & Windus, mighty offices filled with amazing women, a few great dudes, and wonderful people all around. It is an honor to be on your teams.

Thank you to every friend, old and new, whose names and memories populate this book. I love you all, all y’all asses. You are what keeps me here. My life will be to repay you.

Thank you to the National Endowment for the Arts and the Montalvo Arts Center for their generous support, which helped make space to create this work.

Thank you to my family: Mom & Fred, B & LeBron & Natalie, Grandma, Bril, Dad (the original Smith poet), Aisha & Malik & Keisha, every cousin & uncle & especially the aunties. To be a Smith on both sides is a mighty blessing. All my love.