recantations

recantations, my seventeenth chapbook, was written on 2026 March 11; it is 11 pages long, excluding the front cover. It is the final chapbook produced during my fourteenth year of life.

It is composed of “recantations”, i.e. poems that look back at my old material and either take it back—hence “recanting”—or clarify it.

I wrote it fairly quickly; the first poem, “recantation”, was written at 17:56, and the final poem, “recantation 12”, was written at 18:30.

“recantation 11”, detailing what seems to be nihilism or a return to possible suicidal ideation, was written purely to be recanted by “recantation 12”; I did not actually believe in what I had written for it.

It is a happy coincidence that recantations is my seventeenth chapbook, considering that 17 is my favourite number. 17 is my favourite number because many of the albums I enjoy have 17 tracks:

• Labcabincalifornia (The Pharcyde, 1995)
• Black on Both Sides (Mos Def, 1999)
• Here I Stand (Usher, 2008)
• channel ORANGE (Frank Ocean, 2012)
• Blonde (Frank Ocean, 2016)

I also just think it’s a nice number.