A review by madisonwren_
Defacing the Monument by Susan Briante
informative
medium-paced
5.0
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.”