J'Accuse...!: (Poem Versus Silence)

" J'Accuse...! is so dynamic, joyous in its language and emotion, and consistently exciting, engrossing.... A page-turner! And mysteriously easy to read given the inventiveness, color, and torsion of the poetic language.... A wonderful combination of the sophisticated, the primal, and the available. Great poetry has this sense of generous, human outreach from a very high and deep place. Something that comes down from the mountain yet without condescending." --A.F. Moritz, Guggenheim Award & Griffin Poetry Prize Laureate & Toronto Poet Laureate (2019-23) What is it like to be "cancelled," to be shouted down by the virulently self-righteous, and to be permitted no hearing, no defence? In J'Accuse...! (Poem Versus Silence), an essay-in-poetry by Canada's Parliamentary Poet Laureate emeritus, George Elliott Clarke contemplates how terrifyingly easy it was for him to fall victim - in January 2020 - to shrill defamation and scurrilous denunciation, to face "anti-social" media intimidation - all facilitated by reportage that spurred outrage rather than reflection. The result? Censorship and silencing, blacklisting and gag orders, the specialty of tyrannies, including the newfangled cult of "cancellaires" and "digilantes." J'Accuse...! is a poignant manifesto that calls upon intellectuals and radicals to never submit to impulses that intentionally, or even unintentionally, forbid debate and questioning. J'Accuse...! ponders what is truly unspeakable: injustice. J'Accuse...! is a cri-de-coeur that unflinchingly reveals the personal cost - borne by all poets who strive to "bear witness to Treasure - / despite all opposing Battery."