I Hope This Finds You Well

Baer (What Kind of Woman Are You) offers an earnest and original sophomore collection of erasure poems. Baer collected the countless responses to her blogs and social media posts, which ranged from obscene attacks to ardent appreciation. Treating pieces authored by those she calls "Strangers on the Internet" as raw material, the poet used a "black out" technique to remove words and discover hidden poems therein. A misogynist rant (e.g., "women WANT a male leader") is reduced to "read a book." A letter from a fan ("thank you for your emotional labor and for your words") gives rise to "women have a life to live. I want that for you." The transcript of Trump's notorious pussy-grabbing comment becomes "women—don't wait. You can do anything. You can do anything." Some readers will delight in wordplay that twists an opinion into its opposite or enhances a fully formed idea. Others may grow restless, longing for more invention. (Nov.)