“A White Girl Lynching” by Elizabeth P. Glixman is an offering from Pudding House, an independent publisher of poetry with a reputation for selecting manuscripts from poets who “do right” by their art, meaning poets who give dutiful consideration to the process in terms of poetry as craft. Glixman’s commitment is apparent in this chapbook, as she accomplishes what she set out to do: explore “our ‘feeling’ natures as symbolized by poetry”.
In particular, Glixman looks at human dignity, and how the affirmation of dignity relates to her hopes for a more just and united world where people are better able to coexist peacefully mindful of the validity and benefit of our differences. When Glixman speaks of “lynching” she is no doubt aware of the historical context of the word and it’s connection to violence, persecution, violation. She seems to have chosen the word to suggest in a very powerful and forthright way that lynching is both a physical act and a social act, whereby people are stripped of an “important element of individual dignity”.(Preface,Glixman) Continue reading
