A tremendous thank you to Joshua Marie Wilkinson for welcoming this conversation into ewc and the Volta. Thank you to Afton Wilky not only for your incredible design but your enthusiasm, care, and attention to the details. Maggie Nelson and Brian Blanchfield, thank you. And the greatest gratitude of all to the poets, writers, and artists who contributed to this issue: Addie Tsai, Ana Božičević, Ari Banias, Ariel Goldberg, Ching-In Chen, Hannah Ensor, Ian Ellasante, John Pluecker, Joy Ladin, Momoko Allard, Oliver Bendorf, Rae Strozzo, Rebecca Brown, Samuel Ace, Simon Croft, Tamiko Beyer, and Trish Salah, I am honored to be in conversation with you and your work.

Also, a big shout out to Tim Trace Peterson for co-editing Troubling the Line with me. Trace couldn’t contribute to this issue because she is finishing up the monstrous task of designing Troubling the Line but she is missed here and I had to say it. Thank you to Kristi Maxwell, Kristen Nelson, and Sam Ace for helping me think through identity, love, and the paragraph – specifically in this introduction. My family, my chosen family, and my friends: I absolutely love the shit out of you.