Acknowledgments

shout out to the editors of the following publications for publishing poems from this collection, sometimes in different forms: Cosmonauts Avenue, Hyperallergic, Mass Poetry’s “Poem of the Moment,” Poets House, the Academy of American Poets’ “Poem-A-Day,” the Adroit Journal, the Chicago Dispatch, the Rumpus, the Shallow Ends, Vinyl Poetry & Prose, & Yemassee Journal.

i learned how to write at Young Chicago Authors’ Louder Than A Bomb Poetry Festival & at Wordplay Open Mics. thank you to my first teachers, Mr. Mooney, Michael Haeflinger, Kevin Coval, Sharrieff Muhammad, Idris Goodwin, Anna West, Avery R. Young, Felicia Chavez, Tara Betts, & all of the staff members, Wordplay features, & peers who passed through YCA. thank you to my mentors at Harvard University, Glenda Carpio & Eric LeMay.

shout out & gratitude to the people who read early drafts of this manuscript & helped turn it into a real-life book: Nate Marshall (mi hermano), Pedro Olivarez (my brother), Eloisa Amezcua, Jasmine Sha-Ree Sanders, Ben Alfaro, Araba Appiagyei-Smith, Ydalmi Noriega, & Kevin Coval.

gratitude to Sentrock for creating the perfect cover art for this book.

shout out the universe for blessing me with the most genius & loving & foolish set of friends i could ever ask for. thank you Nate Marshall, Araba Appiagyei-Smith, Lamar Appiagyei-Smith, Ben Alfaro, Diamond Sharp, Jasmine Sha-Ree Sanders, Britteney Black Rose Kapri, Eve Ewing, Christian Starling, MC Curley, Lisandra Bernadet, Morgan Parker, Adam Levin, Jamesa Marshall, Emiliano Bourgois-Chacon, Carlos Andrés Gómez. my Conversation Literary Festival family: Cortney Lamar Charleston, Hanif Abdurraqib, Angel Nafis, Paul Tran, Danez Smith, Nabila Lovelace, Jeremy Michael Clark, Safia Elhillo, Desiree Bailey, A. H. Jerriod Avant, Elizabeth Acevedo, Sean Mega DesVignes, Ishmael Islam, & Jayson P. Smith. shout out my Poets House fam: Noel Quiñones, Zakia Henderson-Brown, Emily Brandt, Chialun Chang, Alex Cuff, Rico Frederick, Anne Lai, Cynthia Manick, Nicole Shanté, Lauren Clark, & Adam Fitzgerald. shout out more beloveds: Kaveh Akbar, Fatimah Asghar, Jamila Woods, Jovanny Varela, Ydalmi Noriega, Kaina Castillo, Suzi F. Garcia, Mahogany L. Browne, Patricia Smith, Aracelis Girmay, Willie Perdomo, Aja Monet, Ada Limón, Ron Villanueva, Jon Sands, Aziza Barnes, Julian Randall, Joy Priest, Oscar Sandoval, Ryan Smith, Adam Sellers, Don Swibes, Raych Jackson, Dimress Dunnigan, Fatimah Warner, Maura Mathieu, Elysa Severinghaus, Lucerito Ortiz, Dometi Pongo, Dianna Harris, Daniel Kay Hertz, RJ Eldridge, Blue Bellinger, DJ Ca$h Era, Daniel Martinez, Memo Duarte, Sofía Snow, Stephany Cuevas, Joseph Rios, Kima Jones, Franny Choi, Lauren Jackson, Madison Smith, Sam Sax, Mark Cugini, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Miles Hodges, Naiomy Guerrero, Peggy Robles Alvarado, Andrea Flores, Jacob Saenz, Paula Ramirez, Karla Reyes, Langston Kerman, Adam Falkner, Lauren Whitehead, Renée Watson, Ellen Hagan, David Flores, Ama Codjoe, Marcus Wicker, William Camargo, Shaun Peace, Ben Spacapan, Kimanh Truong, Camonghne Felix, Weslie Turner, Adan Figueroa, TF North Classes of 2005–2008, River Oaks Mall, Halsted Street, PBHA, the Bronx, Mexicans everywhere, mild sauce, the 2010–11 Chicago Bulls, rap music, Vince Staples, A Tribe Called Quest, Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, & my therapist.

thank you to the Adirondack Center for Writing, Art Institute of Chicago, Bronx Council on the Arts, National Museum of Mexican Art, Lincoln Center Education, Mass Poetry, Poetry Society of America, Poets House, Poetry Foundation, Conversation Literary Festival, Urban Word NYC, & Young Chicago Authors for supporting my work as a writer & teacher.

i wrote large sections of this book while in close conversation with students. thank you to everyone who has ever taken a workshop with me. in particular, this book was written in conversation with Victoria Chávez Peralta, Luis Carranza, & Ken Muñoz.

thank you to Julie Fain, Jim Plank, & the whole team at Haymarket Books for supporting my vision & being partners in the work.

gratitude and love to Erika Stallings & our wolves.

thank you to my mom & dad, Maria Olivarez & Pedro Olivarez, for making me so handsome. & you know, for everything in my life. i hope i make you proud. i love you.

this book is for my brothers, Pedro Olivarez, Ruben Olivarez, & Daniel Olivarez—the funniest people i’ve ever met. you teach me how to laugh. you teach me how to grow. i’m proud of you. thank you for leading the way.

& for you, dear reader, this book is for you.

 

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