A poem a day in April from Rutgers English PhD students and friends.

Friday, April 1, 2016

What is Critique?

A critic said
she is interested in the moment
when people stop listening.
“It’s usually at the mention of Ranciere’s name.”
She meant: too “obscure”
but in a good way.
She meant: we shouldn’t
stop.
Another critic said
we need to learn the names of enslaved people.
We need to learn to pronounce them.
We need to hold each other accountable
for things like this.
Obscurity is
a technology of power.
Obscurity is
violence.
Abstraction kills.
To critique is
to hold accountable.
To make answer
even if you get none.
Falling trees make a sound
always.

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