Solmaz Sharif reads “Social Skills Training” at Split This Rock Poetry Festival 2018: Poems of Provocation & Witness, April 20, 2018 in Washington, DC.

Ah. This makes much more sense now.

see: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/1580548/social-skills-training

by Solmaz Sharif

Studies suggest How may I help you officer? is the single most disarming thing to say and not What’s the problem? Studies suggest it’s best the help reply My pleasure and not No problem. Studies suggest it’s best not to mention problem in front of power even to say there is none. Gloria Steinem says women lose power as they age and yet the loudest voice in my head is my mother.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that pretty much any critical discussion of the artwork in modern comics is now couched in film terminology–what “shots” the artist chose, what “camera angles.” Here’s the thing, though: comics aren’t made with a camera. They’re drawings.* And when we talk about and think about comics using film terminology, we’re not only confining ourselves to only engaging with certain aspects of the medium, but (for those of us who make comics) we’re confining ourselves to only telling stories in certain ways.