The following speech was given at the Dayton Literary Peace Prize ceremony on November 10, 2025. * I want to thank my editor, Jordan Pavlin, il miglior fabro , for believing in me and this book from the second it landed in your inbox. Thank you to my steadfast agent, Jacqueline Ko, especially for your years of joyfully and passionately representing me when I was but a lowly poet. To the other writers recognized tonight, to the judges, the organizers: it has been a dream. Your company is the prize. Tommy, Angel and Shira, Dan, Karen, the group chat: thank you. The book and I are better made for having been loved by you. To my spouse Paige Lewis, the past decade sprinting to keep up with your mind has made my own indelibly quicker, wiser, and more humane. Thank you, I love you. Thirteen years ago I was still in active addiction, pissing the bed nightly, lurching from crisis to crisis, passing out every night hoping to not wake up.…