Anyway, the book arrives (a used copy) and it's chock full of someone's post-it notes--someone else who, also, was clearly completely transformed by this text. And just: what a gorgeous dialogue between historian, history, and two readers

Interesting take--definitely check out the collection; where the poem falls among other poems. The war here is (I think) metaphor for a sexual relationship among two men. Also, the 14 lines give it a sonnet-like structure inherent to the meditations on power and desire within the actual book.

I see... yeah, I saw that as the possibility that's ingrained within the concept of destruction. Rules have become less defined, etc.

Smug? I might call the tone resigned, even hopeful? It's from the collection Speak Low (2009)

& like, where else to write some liberal bougie shit than bluesky?

It really breaks a 4th (documentary) wall watching the producers' faces while Irene on The Real World, Cecilia from Project Runway, Colton from Survivor go "Yeah, I've had enough. You're not humiliating me. I make my decisions. Bye."