I am incredibly grateful for this support from the National Endowment for the Arts. As a 19-year-old sitting in my first poetry class at Seattle University, half-listening to some poet named Dana in a suit talk about the NEA and how important it was, I could not have imagined this moment; I lacked the requisite language and self-belief.

This year has done a number on my language, and I still probably lack the self-belief, but the recognition and encouragement of this fellowship will be a worthwhile substitute. Recognition is not everything, but it can be a flit, a spark, some movement in the dark that reminds us why we work so damn hard—why we take in everything that is terrible and strange about the world and ideally make it into art worth participating in.