America

The primary setting of the collection is the current-day United States of America. Many of the poems explicitly address contemporary issues or political events, especially “dear white america” and “you’re dead, america.” Rather than taking place in a specific city, most of the collection explores the collective identity of America and what it is like to live in that society as a black and queer person.

“somewhere”

The collection’s opening poem, “summer, somewhere,” takes place in an imaginary setting that establishes the themes and arguments both of the individual poem and of the full collection. The “somewhere” is an afterlife established for the black boys who have died violent and unjust deaths, created for them by the prayers of the people left behind. When one of these boys dies, he finds himself resurrected in the “somewhere,” where he has a second chance at life and community...