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Works

Tenderness

I know somewhere,

one day,

before we are to leave

and ascend

from this good, blue

Earth—

 

a little Black

boy will read this

(be it fridge or notebook

it may call home).

 

I have no

real words for you—

only marrow

and sucked bones—

only heart

and belonging,

and softness—

 

an irony of tenderness.

 

You, little Black boy,

will be handed

some grand adventure

I implore you to follow.

 

And hear me now:

"I'm so proud of you."

 

Well,

come on now,

come up out of that room,

drink and eat well,

get fat,

and don't forget to pray.

 

I may need you one day—

to share your back,

change these diapers,

and stir

these here beans.

 

To pick up around here

when I'm gone,

to hold my mule,

water these plants.

 

I may need you

to be brave

for braveness' sake—

to cling to the goodness

you weren't ever born with.

 

I may need you to live,

one day,

by being a part

of the reason

someone stays.

Moments as They Are

In Moments as They Are, Triston Dabney offers a radiant debut that gathers the sacredness of everyday Black life into a luminous archive of tenderness, grief, queerness, and spiritual becoming. Moving through the stages of Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood, and Blessing, these poems weave personal memory with communal history, giving voice to the unsung rituals that raise us.

 


Dabney writes with clarity and care, honoring Black familial inheritance, interrogating masculinity, and embracing queer joy with reverence. Each poem is a small benediction, inviting readers to notice the divine in the ordinary and to hold space for healing. Moments as They Are is an offering of witness, a spiritual testimony, and a quiet revolution of care.

 


Perfect for readers of Lucille Clifton, Jericho Brown, Danez Smith, and Hanif Abdurraqib, this collection reminds us that to live is to bless, and to be seen is to become whole.