"When I share this poem, kind, well-meaning people say to me, "You're so brave!" which implies what I am writing is dangerous, that some violence waits for me on the other side of the words, or that what I am saying is shameful. Well, it is-brave, violent, shame-filled. All of it. But it shouldn't be. I say, come. Be brave with me, until we have rightly placed the burden of shame onto the actors of violence."Â
- Emily Bobo
Dr. Emily Bobo is the author of Fugue (Lost Horse Press, 2009) and editor of Bobo Books. She teaches writing to single moms, ex-cons, and military vets at Ivy Tech Community College, where she is a professor of English and department chair of Fine Arts & Humanities.
Dr. Bobo reads her poem "Communing with the Spirit of Shaylyn."