skin in the game

Poet, be thankful the typo you suffered was not a tattoo.

casual crit

There is need for more casual criticism—and less overly footnoted and cautiously argued academic criticism.

power of intimacy

[Toi Derricotte’s] poems insist on the power of intimacy and, perhaps more significantly, the power of vulnerability. To choose such a stance where most would choose the armor of bravado or detachment requires considerable will and skill.

—Terrance Hayes, Watch Your Language: Visual and Literary Reflections on a Century of American Poetry (Penguin Books, 2023)