Alison Luterman Takes on Jussie Smollett

Since there is always a lag time created between contemporary news issues and publications of poetry, Rattle has created a quick-streaming solution.

Poets Respond takes weekly submissions (before midnight on Fridays) for works “written within the last week about a public event that occurred within the last week.”

The poems then appear every Sunday on the Rattle homepage. The only criteria for the poem, the editors assert, is quality, “all opinions and reactions are welcome.”

Selected poets receive $50, with poems sent before midnight on Sunday and Tuesday considered for a “bonus” mid-week post.

This week’s selection is “In Defense of Those Who Harbor Terrible Ideas at Tax Time” by Alison Luterman [pictured], in which, yes, she considers “the young black gay actor who orchestrated / a fake hate crime against himself. / It must have seemed like such a good idea to him / at the time,” and later in the poem offers, “I have to forgive this young man his terrible / idea, I have to because, in my own way, I’ve been him.” 

For more information about Poets Respond and an archive of past works, click here.