“By describing how the practice of writing interacts with the act of listening to music, the essays in “Music for Desks” aspire to a similar magic. These pieces will be exploratory in nature—in all senses about process, rather than result.”

Like my ancestors before me
at the five and dime on Moore Street:
a desperado Jew heads east.

“I tried putting myself in Mert’s shoes—I was in his underwear after all—and wondered at how easily he had offered me something so intimate. Realizing that all my efforts had been so transparent, that I had no protective cover whatsoever, was like being shoved into cold water again and again.”

The point is that they worked to create a platform for themselves—for Black youths—to say whatever they wanted to say. That’s their most powerful legacy.

There will always be political and social unrest, but a pandemic filters everything—we are all characters in its story.

You have seen this play a thousand times,
but as you are about to wake up
for the first time you will notice a telegram
on the gramophone: