John Coltrane once said that he doesn’t play ‘‘jazz’’; he plays only ‘‘John Coltrane.’’ Similarly, harry potter chess set Mary Jo Bang writes in her own Mary Jo Banguage. She is a beguiling poet who makes beguiling music with a beguiling mind, but what sort of poem is ‘‘The Chess Set on a Table Between Two Chairs’’? It almost resists being a poem. It’s strange, personal, poemish. And this may be evidence that an entire memoir can be condensed into a single paragraph. Selected by Terrance Hayes