A revolutionary work of erasure poetry that exposes the contradictions in Thomas Paine’s Common Sense—calling for a new definition of citizenship that embraces all Americans
In his famous cry for inhabitants of the thirteen colonies to seek independence from Britain, Thomas Paine claims to call for total freedom and equality, yet his arguments are directed only at white men, excluding women and people of color. Crystal Simone Smith, known for writing poetry about the human condition and social change, offers a new poetic work that calls out the contradictions in one of the foundational texts of American democracy.
Britain’s oppressive rule, while strongly criticized throughout Paine’s text, was subsequently repeated by the founding fathers who, when forming our nation, established laws that oppressed racial groups and women. Smith uses the power of redaction to revise Pain’s approach, inviting readers to critically engage with the text and reimagine it anew. Retaining the original text as a translucent background, Smith highlights specific words and phrases to reveal new meanings that reflect not only the totality of America’s founding, but the ensuing fragile, if not failing, democracy of our present times.
Perfect for students and US history buffs alike, this highly interactive collection functions as a textual reveal of historical biases and makes a case for a new, inclusive definition of citizenship that recognizes all Americans.
Crystal Simone Smith is the author of three poetry chapbooks. In 2019, she won the North Carolina Poetry Society Bloodroot Haiku Award. Her work has appeared in numerous journals including Prairie Schooner, POETRY Magazine, Crab Orchard Review, Frogpond, and Modern Haiku. Her latest book, RUNAGATE: SONGS OF FREEDOM BOUND, a collection of Japanese forms of poetry written in response to slave artifacts including ads for runaway slaves, will be published by Duke University Press in Spring 2025.
Crystal Simone Smith will be conversation with Gloria Browne-Marshall, an EMMY Award-winning writer, a professor of constitutional law at John Jay College (CUNY), playwright, legal commentator, and author of five books. Her previous works include She Took Justice: The Black Woman, Law, and Power and The Voting Rights War as well as essays and short stories. She was an Institute of Politics Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. Browne-Marshall has received numerous accolades, including the 2024 American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award.