Thanks to Barbara Jane Reyes for continuing the dialogue raised here at the salon on killing our idols in the post “Blowing Up the Teapot Part II”. She writes:
When I was in college, I was so intimidated by the women of color who edited and published in the woman of color journal, smell this. The poetry was so raw, so open, so faithful to real life. I had never read poetry like that before, and part of my feeling so intimidated was due to the kind of strength and boldness these women emanated, so unapologetically. And there I was in my English literature classes, reading Gerard Manley Hopkins, Robert Browning (it seemed Professor Ralph Rader was obsessed with Browning), ashamed to admit that I actually enjoyed reading Hopkins and Browning. I was also afraid to admit that as an emerging poet, I could actually learn something from them.
Read her entire post “Drawing Blood on the Page: Women of Color, Risk, Great Literature,” and have your say in the conversation.
