To be clear: disengagement or non-response is not possible for me right now. Friends have told me to walk away, to take a break, but I am a writer who wants to exist publicly. If I disengaged every time I was approached this way, it would likely mean disengaging from the professional poetry community entirely. When, in specific circumstances, I’ve disengaged, when I have said yes or okay or have just let it go, I have regretted it. I realize not all writers feel this way. I realize the burden brown and black or trans or queer people face to even exist, let alone write, could absolve some of us from engaging: the danger of this poison is real.

- Jennif(f)er Tamayo - more here

Tweet

Pin It