Content Warning: This section depicts racism and racist stereotypes.

Eleven-year-old Lonnie Collins Motion, who uses the nickname Locomotion, explains in “Poem Book” that it’s hard to talk about his life and that he attempts to do so through poetry. In his head, when he hears Miss Edna, his foster mother, telling him “Be quiet!” his ideas disappear like a candle snuffed out with only lingering smoke. His teacher, Ms. Marcus, encourages him to write quickly before this happens.

Sometimes at night, Lonnie sits on the “Roof” imagining that the stars are his parents who have died. In “Line Break Poem,” he shares Ms. Marcus’s advice to be mindful of line breaks in poetry because they highlight what’s most important. He follows up with “Memory,” in which he recalls holding his baby sister, Lili, while his mother cooked in the kitchen. When Lili put her hand on the window, a pigeon flew up and pecked at her. Then, Lonnie’s mother appeared, stating that both he and Lili were her babies.

Next, in “Mama,” Lonnie remembers his mother’s scent and tries to find it at the store. He does this quickly so that the security guard won’t assume he’s there to steal something.