This hybrid essay collection grapples with inherited privileges of Anglo Americans: the violence, misogyny, bigotry, and power that entails. Arterian reckons with her privileges alongside with the experiences of her partner—a man of color who is subjugated by the same systems from which she directly benefits. The collection also chronicles the daily realities of a longterm relationship and its challenges—and the particularities of a remarkable love. Both endured difficult childhoods, which reverberate into their dynamic. The present griefs and crises the two sustain takes a terrible toll, and the relationship may, it seems, finally buckle. The pressures of the relationship build between pieces that illustrate the experiences and insights Arterian has had regarding her privilege. Iterations of this manuscript have been a finalist for the Cleveland Poetry Center Essay Collection Prize, the Dzanc Nonfiction Prize, and twice for The National Poetry Series.

An extended excerpt is in the chapbook With Lightness & Darkness and Other Brief Pieces (Essay Press).