Writing poetry inspired by wronged women
Xochi Quetzali Cartland, one of my fellow poets in the 2026 cohort of Pride Poets-in-Residence through the Arts Club of Washington, led a kick-ass poetry workshop earlier this week. She centered wronged women — often considered villains — and asked us to reconsider the stories we tell about them.
We read four compelling, voice-driven poems:
- “Of Course She Looked Back” by Natalie Diaz. This poem is written from the perspective of Lot’s wife, a story that has been told and retold countless times, but Diaz masterfully reimagines it. You can also listen to a podcast about the poem from Poetry Unbound.
- “yo te sigo quieriendo” by JJ Peña. Using the premise of a scholarship application essay, Peña explores villains and their humanity, focusing on Yolanda Saldívar, who shot and murdered Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, the Queen of Tejano music.
- “Contempt Towards Eden” (in the voice of Eve) by I.S. Jones. In this poem, Jones flips the script: Was the Garden of Eden truly paradise? What if Eve chose to leave of her own volition? By being motherless, how could Eve become a mother? The poem comes from Jones’ Bloodmercy, a collection reimagining Cain and Abel as sisters.
- “On Our Birthday, Lorraine Hansberry & I Discuss Sunlight” by Tariq Thompson. Thompson envisions a conversation between himself and Lorraine Hansberry, the playwright of “A Raisin in the Sun” and the first Black woman to have a play performed on Broadway. He evokes strange fruit as queerness and the haunting song made famous through Billie Holliday’s voice.
Xochi passed around a cup with names of women written on slips of paper. We each pulled one and wrote the start of a poem inspired by who we drew. I pulled Britney Spears, a wronged woman if ever there was one. I’m still working on the poem — thanks, Xochi, for this inspiration and framing. This is an exercise you can easily do at home too.
Here’s the song that I quoted in the headline of this essay. It’s a great listen:
