SQN - Sine Qua Non - Issue Two - Journal - Page 126
SINE QUA NON
“Interview with the Public Universal Friend,” chronicles this preacher, who believes that
they are a spirit that has been reborn into different individuals over the centuries. They are
genderless with an agenda consisting of welcoming everyone and encouraging all to be who
they believe themselves to be regardless of class, status, or orientation. Watkins notes in the
back of the collection that the Public Universal Friend was a real person, so her poem is an
attempt to characterize this figure and highlight their existence, much like poems from earlier
parts of the collection try to shift readers’ understandings of Christianity throughout the ages.
While I find the history and use of the interview form interesting, certain questions from the
interviewer feel like they restate points made earlier in other poems in more nuanced ways.
As a result, “Interview with the Public Universal Friend” does not add much to the overall
conversation the book has with theories of self-creation, fluidity, and acceptance.
But even while some poems don’t hit as hard as others, The Drag Gospel of Queer
Jesus excites me, overall, while offering a sobering view of faith, love, and land. Watkins’
inventiveness marks her as a writer who believes in the possibilities of aesthetics rather than
their perceived limitations. I’m in awe of how much warmth shines through these poems
that could have been filled with lamentation. As I leave this collection, sure to return, I keep
circling back to a few lines from the poem “Migrations”:
There, all day, [the geese] spell and respell
the letter V at the heart of love. See how far
they have crossed this continent’s alphabet to replace
snow with simple grass. What distance
would any of us go?
We must continue to reconstitute our commitments to each other—whoever we are—because
that is how we keep moving forward. I’m so glad Watkins helped remind me of what I had
forgotten was our common, human goal.
Reviewed by
Matthew W. Baker
Managing Editor, Poetry
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