EXCERPT from Introduction:

Some may ask: Why poetry? Why respond in a kind of language where meaning is not always transparent, when the subject matter of sexual abuse might rather invite language that states categorically the terms of the experience, that does not allow for misinterpretation or ambiguity? Shouldn’t this be language that gets straight to the point rather than travelling slant, arriving wonky or misshapen? But, we ask, whose point would that language be arriving at? If it wasn’t women who shaped the vocabulary and syntax we widely recognize as legible, then following these forms could, for some, feel like another act of docility.

–Emily Critchley and Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, 2018

 

One of my poems:

MISSISSIPPI
Last night at a Love’s
truck stop, a man
told me he would like
to slice me up,
boil and eat my liver
and rape me after,
I’m pretty sure,
in that order.
With his eyes
he spoke those words,
and if you don’t
believe me
(“How could you know
for sure?”)
then you’ve never been
a woman, or else.
The rain and the cows
don’t care.
The corn doesn’t
ask or doubt.
And there’s
a southern sadness
buried in everything
I pass down this dark
road driving tonight.

–Amy King
 

CONTRIBUTORS:

 

Kat Addis

Sascha Aurora Akhtar

Rachael Allen

Nuar Alsadir

Rae Armantrout

Mei-mei Berssenbrugge

Zoë Brigley Thompson

Elizabeth-Jane Burnett

Mairéad Byrne

J.R. Carpenter

Sophie Collins

Jennifer Cooke

Emily Critchley

Alison Croggon

Amy Cutler

Jean Day

Carrie Etter

Amy Evans

Megan Fernandes

Kai Fierle-Hedrick

Heather Fuller

Isabel Galleymore

Susana Gardner

Susan Gevirtz

Elizabeth Guthrie

Sarah Hayden

Susan Howe

Jacqueline Kari

Amy King

Deirdre Kovac

Louise Landes Levi

Agnes Lehoczky

Jazmine Linklater

Francesca Lisette

So Mayer

Carol Mirakove

Kathryn Mockler

Marianne Morris

Erín Moure

Charlotte Newman

Sandeep Parmar

Frances Presley

Jèssica Pujol Duran

Sina Queyras

Nat Raha

Nisha Ramayya

Joan Retallack

Christie Ann Reynolds

Susan M. Schultz

Connie Scozzaro

Sophie Seita

Zoë Skoulding

Rosie Šnajdr

Verity Spott

Rebecca Tamás

Elizabeth Treadwell

Catherine Wagner

Rosmarie Waldrop

Samantha Walton

Carol Watts

Emilia Weber

Elizabeth Willis

Sara Wintz

Elisabeth Workman

activism American Poetry Poems Poet Poetics Poetry Sexy Alison Croggon American poetry Amy Cutler Amy Evans amy king Carol Mirakove Carol Watts Carrie Etter Catherine Wagner Charlotte Newman chicago review Christie Ann Reynolds Connie Scozzaro Deirdre Kovac Elisabeth Workman Elizabeth Guthrie Elizabeth Treadwell Elizabeth Willis Elizabeth-Jane Burnett Emilia Weber Emily Critchley Erín Moure Frances Presley Francesca Lisette Heather Fuller Isabel Galleymore J.R. Carpenter Jacqueline Kari Jazmine Linklater Jèssica Pujol Duran Jean Day Jennifer Cooke Joan Retallack Kai Fierle-Hedrick Kat Addis Kathryn Mockler Louise Landes Levi Agnes Lehoczky Mairéad Byrne Marianne Morris Megan Fernandes Mei-mei Berssenbrugge Nat Raha Nisha Ramayya Nuar Alsadir Poetry Rachael Allen Rae Armantrout Rebecca Tamás Rosie Šnajdr Rosmarie Waldrop Samantha Walton Sandeep Parmar Sara Wintz Sarah Hayden Sascha Aurora Akhtar Sina Queyras So Mayer Sophie Collins Sophie Seita Susan Gevirtz SUSAN HOWE Susan M. Schultz Susana Gardner Verity Spott Zoë Brigley Thompson Zoe Skoulding