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Chapters (54)
  1. Cover Page
  2. ICARUS IMPOSTER SYNDROME
  3. A THOUSAND CARDINALS
  4. BIRACIAL GHAZAL: WHY EVERYTHING ENDS IN BLOOD
  5. THIS LAND IS WHERE WE BURIED EVERYTHING THAT CAME BEFORE YOU: AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CONCEPTS OF OWNERSHIP IN EARLY ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
  6. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS #1
  7. IN A RARE MOMENT OF NOSTALGIA MY FATHER REFLECTS ON OBAMA’S FIRST INAUGURATION
  8. TAXONOMY REGARDING MY MOTHER
  9. I THINK EVERYBODY HAS A YEAR THEY NEVER REALLY LEAVE
  10. SUMMER AFTER
  11. ELEGY FOR THE WINTER AFTER TAINA WAS CANCELLED
  12. CHICAGO*
  13. WASN’T THE MINOTAUR BURIED HORNS FIRST: VULNERABILITY AND IDENTITY IN THE MYTHIC BODY
  14. A POEM ABOUT TREES THAT ISN’T ACTUALLY A POEM ABOUT TREES
  15. NEARLY 7 YEARS AFTER THE FACT A BOY WHOSE NOSE I NEARLY BROKE HITS ME UP FOR BRUNCH
  16. IN THE NETFLIX TRAILER OBAMA SAYS “I DON’T FIT IN ANYWHERE” WHILE ANTHONY HAMILTON PULLS A BURNING CITY OUT OF HIS MOUTH
  17. OBAMA SAYS “MUTTS LIKE ME” IN THE MIRROR EVERY MORNING WHILE I GET READY FOR SCHOOL
  18. THE ACADEMY OF ACCEPTABLE LOSS
  19. PREGAME PRAYER WITH COMPLETE CITATIONS
  20. COVERAGE
  21. YOU GOT MCDONALD’S MONEY?
  22. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS #20
  23. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS #51
  24. THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE ONCE BOMBED CITY: PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS OF ANCESTRAL MEMORY THROUGH THE LENS OF RACIAL BATTLE TRAUMA
  25. THE SPACE BETWEEN SKINS IS CALLED A WOUND
  26. TRANSLATION
  27. ON THE NIGHT I CONSIDER COMING OUT TO MY PARENTS
  28. (SELF) INFLICTED
  29. FRANK OCEAN SIGHTING #268: FRANK OCEAN IS RUMORED TO SPEAK OF RIVERS WHICH IS LIKELY A LIE (DISC 1)
  30. NARCISSUS IMPOSTOR SYNDROME
  31. THE AUTHOR IS OFTEN MISTAKEN FOR OBAMA’S LONG LOST SON
  32. INSOMNIAC SOLILOQUY
  33. MY FATHER WATCHES FERGUSON VOL. 1
  34. PORTRAIT OF MY FATHER AS SISYPHUS
  35. MY FATHER WATCHES FERGUSON VOL. 2
  36. PALINOPSIA
  37. POLICE DREAM #607
  38. PALINOPSIA
  39. ELEGY FOR THE SUMMER AFTER DJANGO UNCHAINED CAME OUT ON DVD
  40. PALINOPSIA
  41. REGRETS
  42. GHAZAL FOR THE SUICIDAL THOUGHT
  43. PALINOPSIA
  44. THE SEARCH FOR FRANK OCEAN OR A BRIEF HISTORY OF DISAPPEARING
  45. VARIATION ON A THEME OF GENETICS
  46. LESLIE ODOM JR. SINGS OBAMA’S ANGER ON NPR
  47. MERCY, MERCY, HIM
  48. TANKA FOR THE 4TH OF JULY
  49. ZEALOTS OF STOCKHOLM OR ELEGY FOR THE STILL ALIVE
  50. OBAMA WANTS TO BE CLEAR ABOUT HIS LEGACY
  51. OBAMA SPEAKS OF RIVERS BUT WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ON DIFFERENT SHORES
  52. NEGROTOPIA #3 (SELF PORTRAIT AS HEAVEN)
  53. SAD NIGGA MANIFESTO
  54. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

or a reminder that Barry does Black stuff too

and I used to think wherever a white girl

could see me is where I was from

I did not say Love

I did say my name was David which is not untrue

and the song is throbbing by now

MySoulIsOnFireMySoulIsOnFireMySoulIsOnFire

David dances near the white girls and plays basketball

David hasn’t sung since the last white girl he wanted

David        body of static    the electric glazing the TV

clingy and inconvenient down to the touch

the song is winding down now

scabbing over into an exhausted piano

Barry smokes a cigarette      David was never alive

Anthony Hamilton reaches into the back of his mouth

pries the gristle of a repossessed house from between

two molars and it is dark and neighbored with callouses

asks                     Is this where you’re from?

Barry says              We are Americans

I say                                    yes

OBAMA SAYS “MUTTS LIKE ME” IN THE MIRROR EVERY MORNING WHILE I GET READY FOR SCHOOL

Fog holds the mirror captive                         I step loose from the shower

one word splits the mirror                             baptism is a tricky business

soft     a dragonfly’s migration                       a small body skimming sacred

dares to trouble the water                              it’s barely a miracle at all

One word splits the mirror                            This business of baptism

a fracture no wider than a country               unbraids me

dares to trouble the water                               it’s barely a miracle at all

his face  wading in its own reflection            how much I am like them is

A fracture no wider than a country               unbraiding me

a silvering hairline     wound in the glass      I am not biracial like he is

his face wading in its own reflection             how much I am not like them

the fracture is not vertical                               is a different map altogether

a silvering hairline   wounds the glass           I am not his kind of biracial but

in this nation even what wants us doesn’t     there are constants between us

the fracture is not vertical                               a different map altogether

it’s a failure in the design near the mouth     question of what is & what swells

even what wants us doesn’t                              A constant between us is desire

give me a mutt and I will know family           reflection is negligible geography

the mouth     a failure in the design                what is & what swells to chaos

in the absence of my name                               I am such a little sin honestly

give me a mutt and I will know                       The negligible geography of

each yellowed tooth                                           this body alone in the snow

in the absence of my name                               Little sin at school I am called Obama

it is only ever a beast                                          it is only ever my face

THE ACADEMY OF ACCEPTABLE LOSS