1/4 When 45 was first elected, I had several young female students who included “grab ‘em by the...etc.” in their poems. The conversation I wanted to have began with this question: Why are you using the space of YOUR poem to foreground misogyny?

2/4 Wouldn’t you rather devote the space...to women? It turned into a conversation about the possibilities for imagination. This art affords us a space to imagine ...better. A world beyond just critique. Reiterating the problematic only serves...

3/4 ...as forwarding the agenda of that problem. For example, I asked: Don’t you think a woman will read this poem and and still flinch at the language? After all, it’s the language that has the affect, which is part of your point...

4/4 It is one thing to preserve the origin in critique. But I strongly feel the job of the writer is to move beyond the problem, beyond the source, into a place of self-interrogation and exploration of new possibility. That’s one of its most important roles.