Event Report: Responses to Zoe Leonard's I want a President, Currently Installed on the High Line

Weird Sister's Cathy de la Cruz reports on the performance-responses to Zoe Leonard's I want a President (1992), currently on view on the western pillar of The Standard, High Line, New York City, through November 17, 2016. The piece has also been posted today at 4 Columns in lieu of the journal's standard four articles.

Readings and performances were presented on November 6th by Morgan Bassichis, Justin Vivian Bond, Nath Ann Carrera, Mel Elberg, Malik Gaines and Alexandro Segade, Sharon Hayes, Layli Long Soldier, Fred Moten, Eileen Myles, Pamela Sneed, and Wu Tsang. "Right away," writes de la Cruz, "I saw an acquaintance who allowed me to prop myself up on the railing next to them while whispering, 'I heard Zoe’s going to read I want a president and that it’s only like the second time she’s ever read it publicly in about 20 years.'”

I sat back, and the MC for the afternoon, Sharon Hayes described those participating in the event as artists and activists. Hayes said that I want a president was wheat-pasted on the High Line, which I loved as I associate wheat pasting with the punk rock activism of my youth. Hayes described Leonard’s queer poem as “a call” to action.

Zoe Leonard took the stage and said that it was horrifying that something she made 20 years ago is still so relevant today. Then Leonard read her poem and stepped down from the stage.

Hayes came back and among other things shared a beautiful quote from David Wojnarowicz about the power of turning our grief into something public.

[...]

Layli Long Soldier read what I can only describe as her own (collective) version of I want a president. Through tears, she wondered whether she would ever see a president with hair down to his or her waist in her lifetime. It was a true call to action for our sisters and brothers at Standing Rock.

Pamela Sneed read pieces that discussed how much has changed even in just her lifetime, saying: “Even yesterday these things weren’t possible. Art like this was impossible. Being a dyke was a secret.” She went on to say that we should imagine the young people who might see Leonard’s text in this public space and feel acknowledged—Leonard’s text might save somebody’s life.

Read the full report at Weird Sister.