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zohannah's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
madisonwren_'s review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.5
I will keep thinking about this forever. It is probably the most important book I’ll read this year. Written to poets and documentarians, but a book everyone should read.
•••••
“The reading or writing of a poem can help us to reflect on our place within the spheres of power and powerlessness that constitute our world.”
“We need to understand our documents as well as ourselves within the web of power and processes that produce them.”
“My compassion must compel me to see the ways directly or indirectly that I am implicated in their suffering.”
“How can we amplify voices without turning other people’s stories into commodities, without reaffirming the faulty myth of “giving voice”?
“Witness feels more powerless than ever.”
“We must not see the suffering of others as a commodity. We just not seek the approval of the state or its co-conspirators.”
•••••
“The reading or writing of a poem can help us to reflect on our place within the spheres of power and powerlessness that constitute our world.”
“We need to understand our documents as well as ourselves within the web of power and processes that produce them.”
“My compassion must compel me to see the ways directly or indirectly that I am implicated in their suffering.”
“How can we amplify voices without turning other people’s stories into commodities, without reaffirming the faulty myth of “giving voice”?
“Witness feels more powerless than ever.”
“We must not see the suffering of others as a commodity. We just not seek the approval of the state or its co-conspirators.”
venneh's review against another edition
5.0
This is a complex as hell book, working in deconstruction of poetry tropes, criticism of the documentary poem and the state at large, personal grief, and how to actively resist the bullshit of the state. Susan begins by observing a court session that’s part of Operation Streamline, and builds from there. Critically complex as hell, similar to DMZ Colony in how she tackles the subject matter, and definitely one I’ll be coming back to.
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