Fulton's “Art Thou the Thing I Wanted” was originally published in the collection Powers of Congress, which was reviewed by several publications with mixed reception. A critic for Publishers Weekly states, “Although Fulton . . . possesses a keen sense of the pliability of language, her imagery is often incoherent or heavy-handed.” Indeed, many reviewers have referred to Fulton's ability to deftly handle and have fun with language, and not all have liked the effect. The Publishers Weekly reviewer finds that she has “sacrificed the emotionality of her subject to the bravado of wordplay.”

Another critic, Eavan Boland, writing for Partisan Review, finds Fulton to be “an ambitious, powerful poet.” Boland goes on to say that Fulton's poems “are daring and broad. She will try anything; and the latest thing she has tried is neither proof nor promise of the next.” Boland adds, “Her language is not always certain...