zoe leonard.
IN 1992, AMERICAN ARTIST ZOE LEONARD WROTE A POEM TITLED "I WANT A PRESIDENT" INSPIRED BY EILEEN MYLES'S RUN FOR U.S. PRESIDENT. LEONARD'S MUCH QUOTED POEM DISCUSSES SIMILAR SENTIMENTS AS EILEEN MYLES CAMPAIGN.
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THE POEM WAS REPRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED IN ORDER TO SPREAD A MESSAGE ABOUT THE TYPE OF PERSON THE COUNTER-CULTURE WANTS FOR PRESIDENT.
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THE POEM REPRESENTS AN INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM THAT WAS EARLY FOR ITS TIME.
IN RESPONSE TO ZOE LEONARD'S "I WANT A PRESIDENT," EILEEN MYLES GAVE A JOYFUL, HUMOROUS, AND POETICALLY PACED ACCEPTANCE SPEECH IN 2017.
MYLES TOUCHES ON MULTIPLE CRITIQUES OF AMERICA TODAY. THEY CONTINUE THEIR UNIQUE UTOPIAN CAMPAIGNING STYLE, DELIVERED IN A BOSTON ACCENT THROUGH GRITTED TEETH. THEY SAY "CARS ARE STUPID" AND "WE WILL SEND LOTS OF MASSEUSES TO ISRAEL AND PALESTINE" AND "GARDENING THE FLOWERS, HELPING THE FLOWERS, DISTRIBUTING THE FLOWERS!"
OF COURSE, MYLES' UTOPIAN HOPES AND UNFORGIVING CRITICISMS ARE NOT REALISTIC; RATHER, THEY ARE STATEMENT MAKING. THE POINTS OF THE PLATFORM REMAIN LARGELY THE SAME AS THEY DID 25 YEARS PRIOR.
WHEN THINKING OF THE DETAILS OF POLICY, MYLES GETS FLUSTERED AND SAYS IN HER TYPICAL HONEST HUMOR: "I JUST GOT ELECTED, I HAVEN'T WORKED EVERYTHING OUT!"
