Reach: A Poem

Winner of the Academy of American Poets First Book Award, selected by Brenda Hillman

New fatherhood sends the speaker of Gabriel Antonio Reed’s Reach back to the tenderness and hurt of his own childhood. Moments with his child in the garden elicit memories of his grandmother, and intimate dreams about people outside of his romantic relationship recall his parents’ histories and the queer experiences of his youth. Despite his own mental health struggles, his child becomes a reason to persist,...