The Molestation Poem
What is sure to be trouble:
While at NUPIC, Evy (Madison) did one of my favorite poems of the week. I don't know the title, but it was basically a poem about not using women as victims in poems just because it's popular to do so. I loved it. It was then, of course, followed by poems doing exactly what her poem asks her not to do. This struck a chord with me because I've felt this way a long time, and this year there was a particularly strong lean toward, not so much women-as-victim poems, but molestation-of-children poems.*
The rape poem, as delivered by male poets, has been replaced by the molestation poem, again delivered predominantly by male poets. There used to be lots of rape poems from men. Now there were almost none.
I believe it's because male poets got dinged for doing rape poems, so they have largely opted to pick less-score-dinging, more universally reviled, less-possibly-a transgressor-in-the-room molestation poems.
There, I said it.
* All the ones I heard featuring female children, for the record, until Finals stage, when Tavis** broke the trend as a sac.
** Tavis is above reproach on this issue as far as I'm concerned. This isn't about his poem. I would tell you if it were.
While at NUPIC, Evy (Madison) did one of my favorite poems of the week. I don't know the title, but it was basically a poem about not using women as victims in poems just because it's popular to do so. I loved it. It was then, of course, followed by poems doing exactly what her poem asks her not to do. This struck a chord with me because I've felt this way a long time, and this year there was a particularly strong lean toward, not so much women-as-victim poems, but molestation-of-children poems.*
The rape poem, as delivered by male poets, has been replaced by the molestation poem, again delivered predominantly by male poets. There used to be lots of rape poems from men. Now there were almost none.
I believe it's because male poets got dinged for doing rape poems, so they have largely opted to pick less-score-dinging, more universally reviled, less-possibly-a transgressor-in-the-room molestation poems.
There, I said it.
* All the ones I heard featuring female children, for the record, until Finals stage, when Tavis** broke the trend as a sac.
** Tavis is above reproach on this issue as far as I'm concerned. This isn't about his poem. I would tell you if it were.