I meet isaiah a. hines at the intersection of gender, the Black body, in dialogue with the greats (Gwendolyn Brook, Ntozake Shange, Jean Toomer, Saidiya Hartman, etc.) and black queer life. And just as soon as I make it past their dedication to their brothers and acknowledgement of their grandmothers' wisdom and realness I am swept away by the first poem. They write: 'This [null] is ultimately a reference to the historic and present day indifference to anti-black violence in their United States... where Black lives have been considered less than nothing. I am so excited to dig into this collection! isaiah does some interesting things with the construction of words all while centering Black interiority." -- Emely Rumble, LCSW, Psychotherapist, Bibliotherapist