boy maybe: poems

(Paperback)

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51 achingly eloquent poems from a young Cave Canem fellow- W. J. Lofton's verses explore Black queer Southern identity, grief, love, and intimacy while enduring and witnessing unfreedom in America 51 achingly eloquent poems from a young Cave Canem fellow- W. J. Lofton's verses explore Black queer Southern identity, grief, love, and intimacy while enduring and witnessing unfreedom in America W. J. Lofton writes vivid, accessible poems that channel the energy, urgency, ambitions, joys, and sorrows of a young Black queer artist. They are about love and flirtation, sweet tea and hot sauce, God and family, life and death, police brutality and extrajudicial killings. His verses honor some of the young lives extinguished by these killings-Breonna Taylor, Kendrick Johnson, Ahmaud Arbery. He also pays tribute to some of the towering figures of Black culture who have come before him-Richard Pryor, Assata Shakur. His style is endlessly propulsive, informed by some of the Harlem Renaissance greats-Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks-but also transforming that rich tradition for the present day.

Reviews

W. J. Loftons boy maybe is a museum of exactitudes, with lines so precise that you never forget them. One example is the enchanting and provocative opening, there was a rock in his stiletto, / small as a tear across the heart. This book stuns and nurtures all at once . . . or as Lofton himself might say, i am nobodys dinner/unless i want to be. I look forward to whatever this poet will offer.
Jericho Brown, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of The Tradition

What to say Sexy maybe Daring maybe Tender maybe Brave maybe Haunted maybe Liberated maybe All that. boy maybe touches my heart with its soft, honest lyrics and shakes me up with its brilliant singing. W. J. Lofton has written a lighthouse that will call many young queer folks to its shores. Here, in this poets shining language, is a country where we are possible. No maybe about it. This book is a warm, resounding YES!
Danez Smith, Lambda Awardwinning author of [insert] Boy

Here are poems that demand a reader, a listener willing to be completely vulnerable, tender, open . . . boy maybe refuses to compromise on the fullest, freest expressions of Black queer aliveness. I am so moved and emboldened by this work, these passions and inquiries.
Chen Chen, author of When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities

I am constantly moved by Loftons beautiful, beautiful work. . . . Lofton stitches seamless and evocative images together creating lyrics for / of / from / the vulnerable / resilient body. This is a new illuminating call for liberation. I cannot speak highly enough of this voice.
Raymond Antrobus, Ted Hughes Awardwinning author of The Perseverance

Im astonished at boy maybe. The people inhabiting Loftons poems reach for bodily connection, placing importance on tenderness with others and the self. The corporeal love of these voices is so insistent that accounts of harm must be reimagined, aliveness must be recovered. And it is: with touch, movement, surprising sounds, and sharp visuals. Read this breathing book and be reminded where God is.
K. Iver, author of Short Film Starring My Beloveds Red Bronco

Author Bio

W. J. Lofton, a Chicago-born poet and multimodal artist, is the author of A Garden for Black Boys Between the Stages of Soil and Stardust. His work explores the intersections of race, class, and gender while focusing on Black queer men's attempts at intimacy and the tensions and wonders of boyhood. Lofton has received fellowships from Cave Canem and Emory University. A recipient of Ava DuVernay's LEAP Grant, his work has appeared in TIME, wildness, Obsidian, and Scalawag. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, where he co-curates Rebellion- A Writing Salon.