US poet defends reading of Michael Brown autopsy report as a poem

Conceptual poet Kenneth Goldsmith’s attempt to reframe the report as poetry has caused an outcry on social media

The American poet Kenneth Goldsmith has defended himself in the wake of heavy criticism following his reading of Michael Brown’s autopsy report in the form of a poem on 13 March.

Goldsmith, an admired writer who has published 10 books of poetry and teaches writing at the University of Pennsylvania, performed “The Body of Michael Brown” at Interrupt 3, a weekend-long arts event at Brown University. Brown was the unarmed black 18-year-old fatally shot last summer in Ferguson, Missouri, by a white police officer.

Kenneth Goldsmith has reached new racist lows yet elite institutions continue to pay him guest speaker fees.

To be clear, Michael Brown's autopsy report was powerful--visceral, upsetting but dissolving into data once the describing interior of body