St. Trigger

by Aaron Coleman

  aimed

  Notes

  The title “It is not a question of memory” quotes James Baldwin’s essay “Many Thousands Gone,” from his collection of essays, Notes of a Native Son.

  The epigraph of “On Acquiescence” refers to Emily Dickinson’s “Of Bronze – and Blaze.” The italicized language in the poem quotes the characters Big Worm and Smokey in the 1995 movie, Friday.

  “Rich” and “Through” owe their dictionary form to several poems in A. Van Jordan’s collection M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A.

  The title and beginning of the first line of “Between” are drawn from part of a sentence in James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man: “The anticipation produced in me a sensation somewhat between bliss and fear.”

  Acknowledgments

  I’d like to extend my gratitude and appreciation to the following journals and anthology in which poems in this chapbook (or previous versions of them) first appeared: Apogee, Bettering American Poetry, Button Poetry, The Greensboro Review, Meridian, Pinwheel, River Styx, Southern Indiana Review, Third Coast, and Tupelo Quarterly.

  To my parents and my whole family, for who they are; for their indomitable love and support, their grace and their complications. To my GBC fam (homegrown and those who came), Tiffany, Mithil, and to Andrea for what we’re creating, and for lifting me up.

  For so many years of guidance, insight, and friendship, Diane Seuss. For believing in me and opening my eyes even further, Jericho Brown. For the growth you spark and who you are, Mary Jo Bang and Carl Phillips.

  I offer my thanks and appreciation to the communities of the Creative Writing Program and the Chancellor’s Graduate Fellowship Program at Washington University in St. Louis for their unique and essential support: social, emotional, and financial. Thank you to Cave Canem, for our faith, resilience, what we’re building, and how we’re growing. In addition to those named above, I would be remiss without extending special thanks to Espelencia Baptiste, VersAnnette Blackman-Bosia, rebecca brown, Kathryn Davis, Timothy Donnelly, Danielle Dutton, Kathleen Finneran, Rav Grewal-Kok, Saskia Hamilton, Kathryn A. Hindenlang, francine j. harris, Jennifer Kronovet, Paul Legault, Liz London, Miriam Martínez, Philip Matthews, William J. Maxwell, Charleen McClure, Michael Mlekoday (Thanks, Editor!), Sope Oyelaran, Vivian Pollak, Katie Prout, Claudia Rankine, Justin Phillip Reed, Line Rindvig, Mónica de la Torre, Phillip B. Williams, Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran, Rafia Zafar, and Pablo Zavala. Thank you, too, to all the other friends and artists, too many to name here (I see you), that have offered insights and encouragement along the way.

  I offer my heartfelt gratitude to the communities of educators, writers, and young people in Madrid, Spain, Durban, South Africa, and Chicago, Illinois, whose influences will resonate with me as long as I am. Thank you to the Fulbright Program, the Beeler Fellowship at Kalamazoo College, and Literature for All of Us, respectively, for their financial support in those endeavors.

  And thank you, Adrian Matejka, for seeing potential in this chapbook.

  About the Author

  A Fulbright Scholar and Cave Canem Fellow from Metro-Detroit, Aaron Coleman has lived and worked with youth in locations including Kalamazoo, Chicago, Spain, and South Africa. A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis’ MFA Program and Kalamazoo College in Psychology, Aaron most recently taught Poetry Writing at Washington University in St. Louis, worked as Public Projects Assistant at Pulitzer Arts Foundation, and was copoetry editor for The Spectacle. His poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in Apogee, Boston Review, Fence, The Greensboro Review, Meridian, Pinwheel, River Styx, Southern Indiana Review, Third Coast, Tupelo Quarterly, and elsewhere. A two-time semifinalist for the 92Y Discovery Poetry Contest and winner of the Tupelo Quarterly TQ5 Poetry Contest, Aaron is currently a PhD student in Washington University in St. Louis’ Comparative Literature Program, where he is studying translation.

  Other Books by Button Poetry

  Aziza Barnes, me Aunt Jemima and the nailgun.

  J. Scott Brownlee, Highway or Belief

  Sam Sax, A Guide to Undressing Your Monsters

  Nate Marshall, Blood Percussion

  Mahogany L. Browne, smudge

  Neil Hilborn, Our Numbered Days

  Sierra DeMulder, We Slept Here

  Danez Smith, Black Movie

  Cameron Awkward-Rich, Transit

  Jacqui Germain, When the Ghosts Come Ashore

  Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib, The Crown Ain’t Worth Much