The radiant poems in Darius Stewart's Intimacies in Borrowed Light invite readers into the full and evolving vision of a brilliant young poet as he explores the nuances of his own identity and experiences as a Black and gay artist in urban Appalachia and beyond. We encounter first loves and lost loves, family members striving to take care of one another, and an emerging writer engaged with timeless works from Magritte and Debussy to Louise Gluck and Jack Gilbert. Those of us who read Darius's work from the early days have sought these poems out and worried as they became more and more difficult to find: reading them together now in one substantial volume is a joy. The central, intertwining themes of this book are announced right in the title-intimacy and light-and Stewart's poems make the world feel more closely held and better lit, easier to love and harder to take for granted.

- Jesse Graves, author of Merciful Days and Said-Songs: Essays on Poetry and Place

Darius Stewart's Intimacies in Borrowed Light thrums with ecstasy and extravagance even as his speaker charts the vagaries of the body, the inevitability of grieving and loss. A finely wrought debut, Intimacies in Borrowed Light heralds Stewart as a bold, emerging voice.

-Donika Kelly, author of The Renunciations, National Book Critics Circle Finalist and winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award

REVIEWS: "Gritty, erotic, and sublime." -Marilyn Kallet "Here notions of beauty appear and reappear, intensely renewed at each turn by Stewart's technical grace and open-hearted acts of witness." -Terrance Hayes "In his self-portraits and portraits of others, the human body in all its grief, sensuality, and passion is revealed as nothing short of heroic." -Denise Duhamel "What lovely, luscious, luxurious poems." -Naomi Shihab Nye "These are songs of lament meant to soothe the inevitable loss of love, sexuality, trust, and life; but they are also a balm, an attempt to confront and remedy the paradoxical need for human connection." -Dexter L. Booth