The Wardrobe's Best Dressed: The Best Best Dressed of 2023

This week, Managing Editor Krista Cox shares her 5 favorite books featured on The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed in 2023, and shares a new selection from each.

Krista's final selection, chosen by guest editor Katie Manning, is from 
God Themselves by Jae Nichelle, released by Simon & Schuster in 2023.

content warning for racialized violence

Three Churches Burn in Louisiana

when two or more Black people gathering in the name of preservation agree, it’s a law. I pass two or more Black people on the street, we form a congregation 

built on head nods & anonymity. my congregation not the forgiving type. an attempt to burn two or more Black people gathering in the name of preservation 

warrants my congregation knocking on your door on a Sunday morning just to tell you your bloodline ain’t shit. now it’s a law. a church is where two or more Black 

people gather. a church unseen cannot be burned, it’s a law. my congregation resurrects churches & blackens your eye faster than you can look at us. look at us. 

my congregation don’t testify against other members of the congregation. that’s a law. an embrace between two or more Black people is silent worship of our Black 

& our bodies. two or more Black people agree to whoop the ass of the next person who tries us. I’m tired. I need two or more Black people to embrace me. 

we save each other in this congregation. we don’t wait for external justice. we don’t seek restoration. two or more Black people gathering in the name 

of preservation have died for just that. my congregation disguises a laying of hands as a handshake. they’re praying for me. me & the still warm ground.

Jae Nichelle is the author of the poetry chapbook The Porch (As Sanctuary) from YesYes Books; the inaugural poetry winner of the John Lewis Writing Award from the Georgia Writers Association; and her poetry has appeared in Best New Poets 2020, The Washington Square Review, The Offing Magazine, Muzzle Magazine, and elsewhere. Her spoken word poems have been featured by Write About Now, Speak Up Poetry Series, and Button Poetry.

Katie Manning is the author of Hereverent (Agape Editions), Tasty Other (winner of the Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award), and six chapbook collections, including How to Play (Louisiana Literature Press) and 28,065 Nights (River Glass Books). Her poem “What to Expect” was featured on the Poetry Unbound podcast, and her poems have appeared in HAD, Poet Lore, SWWIM, Stirring, Thimble, Verse Daily, and many other venues. Katie is the founder and editor-in-chief of Whale Road Review and a professor of writing at Point Loma Nazarene University.