The poem “Who Are the Tribes” first appeared as a chapbook published by Pilot Books in 2011, with thanks to Betsy Wheeler. “Like Mercy” also appeared in the chapbook Between Ghosts (Center for Book Arts, 2010), with thanks to Sharon Dolin.

“Gentle Measures” was written for the “Gods and Monsters” theme in the Hugo House literary series. “How to Draw an Invisible Man” also was published online by the United States Postal Service for the centennial Ralph Ellison stamp. “Instructions for a Séance with Vladimirs” was first commissioned as part of the Book Wings project, a collaboration between the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program and the Moscow Art Theatre, with thanks to Nate Brown and Christopher Merrill. “Antebellum House Party” was first written for Found Anew: New Writing Inspired by the South Caroliniana Library Digital Collections, with thanks to Ray McManus.

Deepest gratitude to Yona Harvey and Paul Slovak for their help with this collection, and to the United States Artists Zell Fellowship for its generous support. Thanks as well to friends who influenced this manuscript through encouragement and conversation: Elizabeth Alexander, Rob Casper, Radiclani Clytus, Toi Derricotte, and Shara McCallum.

A letter moves backwards with its own wings . . .

—Rammellzee

WHAT IT LOOK LIKE

Dear Ol’ Dirty Bastard: I too like it raw,

I don’t especially care for Duke Ellington

at a birthday party. I care less and less

about the shapes of shapes because forms

change and nothing is more durable than feeling.

My uncle used the money I gave him

to buy a few vials of what looked like candy

after the party where my grandma sang

in an outfit that was obviously made

for a West African king. My motto is

Never mistake what it is for what it looks like.

My generosity, for example, is mostly a form

of vanity. A bandanna is a useful handkerchief,

but a handkerchief is a useless-ass bandanna.

This only looks like a footnote in my report

concerning the party. Trill stands for what is

truly real though it may be hidden by the houses

just over the hills between us, by the hands

on the bars between us. That picture

of my grandmother with my uncle

when he was a baby is not trill. What it is

is the feeling felt seeing garbagemen drift

along the predawn avenues, a sloppy slow rain

taking its time to the coast. Milquetoast

is not trill, nor is bouillabaisse. Bakku-shan

is Japanese for a woman who is beautiful

only when viewed from behind. Like I was saying,

my motto is Never mistake what it looks like

for what it is else you end up like that Negro

Othello. (Was Othello a Negro?) Don’t you lie

about who you are sometimes and then realize

the lie is true? You are blind to your power, Brother

Bastard, like the king who wanders his kingdom

searching for the king. And that’s okay.

No one will tell you you are the king.