[2][3] The book's poems address a myriad of topics similar to Smith's first collection, [insert] boy, including but not limited to police brutality, Black Lives Matter, general anti-blackness in the United States, and LGBTQ identity.

[4][5] Stephanie Burt, writing for the Academy of American Poets, liked Smith's method to that of Douglas Kearney and D. A. Powell among others.

[6] The Guardian compared Smith to a tradition of lyric poetry in America established by Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka, and Langston Hughes.

[8] Lambda Literary analyzed the various kinds of violence which Smith sought to critique, later stating, "And, despite everything, there is a stream of love, tenderness, and nurturing running through this collection.

[10] The Rumpus called the book "a historical commentary, a scientific document, a personal narrative, and a formal poetics" similar to works by Patricia Smith, Solmaz Sharif, and Claudia Rankine.