Poetry on Trial

If I can be allowed to comment, here. A poem, on the walls
of a Berlin University building, is about to be removed for being sexist.
And a debate rages about the censorship of art.

The poem is not of today's sensibility, because it was from another period.
But it wasn't sexist then ( quite the contrary). And to proffer a reading of
it as sexist today smacks of illiteracy. Not my job to tell Berlin what to do with
wall art, but at least let us  give that poor  poet (still alive today, at 93;  a Bolivian)
a proper appreciation.

The sticking point is the last phrase, un admirateur. Flowers and and beauty and women
on the streets of Barclona and among them, un admirateur. The poet offered this poem for
the wall of a university building that initially educated women, and is today a school of social
studies. Un admirateur. Even if, and when as well, that women do the work of the world,
he is charmed by them. In effect, alluding to human love and seduction always there. But
also, in the subtext created by the placement of the poetic text, his admiration for the work of
women, which is ever the same but is evolving all at once.

Got your back, Mr Poet. (Which - en passant - is perhaps a suspect line of work, leading
to all manner of débordements). Humpf!

https://www.nouvelobs.com/rue89/notre-epoque/20180518.OBS6893/gros-debat-en-allemagne-faut-il-effacer-ce-poeme-juge-sexiste-du-mur.html