Shout

The chapter/poem about reporting on a rape trial (“if it pleases the court”) might be the most concise and crushing encapsulation of how society and the legal system view rape, rapists, and survivors. The rest of the book, a memoir in verse, looks at Anderson's life and art. But the book is so much more than a memoir. It's a follow-up to Speak, but instead of being a sequel or just a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process the produced the novel, Shout is a rebuke of a society that ignores or antagonizes survivors, of a culture of misogyny and masculinity. The struggles that Melinda faces in Speak haven't gone away in the 20 years since the publication of that book. With Speak, Anderson showed us the impact sexual assault has on a survivor. And 20 years after that, you can turn on the TV and see some of the most powerful men in the world give slap-wrist-sentences to rapists and value the drunken rantings of abusive man over the testimony of a woman. In the “Postlude” to the book, Anderson writes of “writing rage-poems” and stories that “activate, motivate, / celebrate, cerebrate, / snare our fates / and share our great / incarnations of hope”. I hope that people read the “rage-poems” in this book and let that anger and pain be an impetus for change. Speak showed us that we need to get better. Shout is the reminder that we've failed.