From a Washington Post review by Becca Rothfeld headlined “Terrance Hayes delivers a dazzling homage to writers he loves”:

Is it an anthology of prose poems? A memoir? A chart of an imaginary territory? An exam in a class in a dream? Even the title of the latest singularity from poet Terrance Hayes, “Watch Your Language: Visual and Literary Reflections on a Century of American Poetry,” spans genres. At first glance, it seems like an admonition of the sort voiced by exasperated parents at the dinner table when their children speak impolitely, but it soon turns out to be an earnest invitation.