Apocrypha

The beginning and ending of “Langston’s Blues” are from the conclusion of Terrance Hayes’s poem “A Small Novel.”

“Always be closing”—in “Another Elegy” (This is what our dying…)—was a favorite piece of advice Liam Rector gave to his poetry students. The line was made popular by a monologue in the film version of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glenn Ross.

Cedar Grove, in the poem titled “Angel,” is a neighborhood in Shreveport, Louisiana, bordered by Hollywood Avenue, 85th Street, Line Avenue (mentioned in “Motherland”), and Mansfield Road.

“Receiving Line” is set in California, November 4, 2008, when citizens directed the state’s 55 electoral votes to Barack Obama, who became the first African American U.S. President. They also voted that day to pass Proposition 8, which eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry.