The Speaker

The unnamed speaker is a recurring presence throughout the collection, however while some of the speakers seem to share certain traits with Terrance Hayes himself, there are many poems where the speaker bears little or no resemblance to the poet. For example, “Bullethead for Earthell” contains biographical information pertaining to Hayes’ life, as the poem is addressed to his biological father, Earthell, and contains lines about his grandfather who died in the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, the speaker in the poem “Newfolk” is a musician in a performing duo touring the Chitlin’ Circuit, a string of musical venues most active during the period of segregation in the mid-20th century in the south.

Most of the speakers narrate their poems from the perspective of a black male, as implied by the descriptions and subject matter in poems like “All the Way Live” and “The Avocado.” Overall the speakers...