TWO POEMS

EDITORS’ NOTE

ANCESTORS OPENS AND CLOSES with stories by authors who

BINGUNI!

KENYAN WRITER Binyavanga Wainaina (1971–2019) was among the

DNA AND OUR TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY ANCESTORS

SOME OF MY ANCESTORS might live just up

TWO POEMS

(finalist for the Boston Review Annual Poetry Contest)

THE MILLIONS

N NOVEMBER 2015 I boarded a flight to Peru

MEDITATIONS ON LINES

Water takes the path of least resistance. Any

ANCESTRAL WEALTH: THE SACRED BLACK MASCULINE IN MY LIFE

I CAN’T HIT THE PAGE without hearing Hendrix, his

SKYLARKING

THE SECOND TIME Auncil’s picture appeared in the

TWO TRIBUTES

THE BAKER’S TALE

THERE WAS THIS BOY who walked the threadbare

NO MORE SORROW SONGS

WHEN GALAI OPENED HER EYES that autumn morning,

DOG TIGER HORSE

(Winner of the 2020 Aura Estrada Short Story

SHOPPING FOR BLOUSES

In the back of a women’s store, Crystal

TWO POEMS

(Winner of the 2020 Boston Review Annual Poetry

TWO POEMS

The Last Dinosaur When people ask me what

[EVIDENCE: PERSONAL EFFECTS] A PURSE FULL OF BLACK

(semifinalist of the 2020 Boston Review Annual Poetry

COMPANION ANIMALS

Domenica Ruta SOMETIME IN MARCH Harriet’s fever broke. She

“ROOM, ROOM, ROOM, IN THE MANY MANSIONS OF ETERNAL GLORY FOR THEE AND FOR EVERYONE”

-The Archangels to Publick Universal Friend upon the Friend’s first death

ON ANONYMITY

(finalist for the 2020 Boston Review Annual Poetry

STRAIGHT DOWN TO THE BONES

A KEY FIGURE in the Black Arts Movement and

PROOFREADER

Between Duke & Elizabeth is Old Man Dallas,

WOMEN WHO FLY: NONA HENDRYX AND AFROFUTURIST HISTORIES

ON THE LAST NIGHT of Black History Month, February

NIGHT PICNIC

JUNIOR’S DAD came in while he was studying at

CONTRIBUTORS

Bennet Bergman is founding editor of Changes. His