Krysl's book-length poem on women's liberation (subtitled My Life With the Murderer) scrutinizes ways in which women acquiesce to their own exploitation. A whirlwind and incisive tour throuth history, invoking Charles Manson, abortion, banking, the tradition of the courtesan, police brutality, Nixon, and the Roman goddess Diana Lucifera.

You look in the mirror because
you’re expecting the murderer

and you want to be ready
when he comes. You want to be

at your best when he comes
to get you, you want to

make an impression he can’t
refuse. And you

will, because you’ve been
trained for this, trained

for centuries: hetaera,
courtesan, geisha, demimondaine,

look in the mirror: nothing has
changed, except the currency

he pays to make you his. Look
in the mirror, luxury

item, soft paper
product, coat of the

skins of small mammals,
look at the elephant tusk

bracelet on your forearm,
look at the price tag

stapled to your wrist. You’re
bought and paid for, he can

murder if he wants to…..