american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
EQUIVOCAL AGENCY 87<br />
suggests an aspect of all social relations. Giddens writes: “All social<br />
reproduction is grounded <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> knowledgeable application and<br />
reapplication of rules and resources by actors <strong>in</strong> situated social<br />
contexts . . . social systems are chronically produced and reproduced<br />
by <strong>the</strong>ir constituent participants” (114). In Simic’s poem, <strong>the</strong> speaker<br />
disturb<strong>in</strong>gly applies <strong>the</strong> rules of <strong>the</strong> refugee <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> “situated social<br />
context” of a burn<strong>in</strong>g city, and he ironically and sadly reproduces <strong>the</strong><br />
refugee’s nameless, placeless suffer<strong>in</strong>g. With<strong>in</strong> this “epic”<br />
<strong>the</strong> speaker’s place is so m<strong>in</strong>iscule and <strong>in</strong>significant that he vanishes<br />
before his own eyes.<br />
The overarch<strong>in</strong>g conceit of <strong>the</strong> poem, over and above <strong>the</strong> speaker’s<br />
role as refugee, is <strong>the</strong> speaker’s view<strong>in</strong>g of <strong>the</strong> flee<strong>in</strong>g refugees on<br />
videotape. He is show<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> videotape of <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>cident “to <strong>the</strong> kiddies,”<br />
but even after rew<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> tape a “hundred times” <strong>the</strong> kids<br />
cannot “catch sight” of <strong>the</strong> speaker/refugee. Despite <strong>the</strong> speaker’s<br />
certa<strong>in</strong>ty (“I know I was <strong>the</strong>re”), <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> words of “honest” Iago, <strong>the</strong><br />
villa<strong>in</strong> of O<strong>the</strong>llo, <strong>the</strong>re is no “ocular proof ” to confirm that <strong>the</strong><br />
speaker was actually present. Throughout <strong>the</strong> poem Simic parodies<br />
<strong>the</strong> American media’s tendency to play and replay film clips of distant<br />
disasters. In his criticism of <strong>the</strong> media’s “re-representation of world as<br />
spectacle”—as discussed earlier with regard to Forché’s “Return”—<br />
Michael Greer suggests that <strong>the</strong> American media’s penchant for cont<strong>in</strong>ually<br />
broadcast<strong>in</strong>g sensational images of violence desensitizes<br />
viewers (175). In “Cameo Appearance” <strong>the</strong>se disturb<strong>in</strong>g, violent<br />
images are archetypes of poor, suffer<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>digenous people; refugees<br />
and victims of war or fam<strong>in</strong>e, <strong>the</strong>y plead to <strong>the</strong> camera, to <strong>the</strong>ir god,<br />
or to a rich country halfway across <strong>the</strong> world. In look<strong>in</strong>g for himself<br />
on <strong>the</strong> videotape, <strong>the</strong> speaker th<strong>in</strong>ks he is “squeezed between <strong>the</strong> man /<br />
With two bandaged hands raised / And <strong>the</strong> old woman with her<br />
mouth open / As if she were show<strong>in</strong>g us a tooth / That hurts badly.”<br />
Everyone who watches network news <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> United States has seen<br />
<strong>the</strong>se two people. Their poses and m<strong>in</strong>istrations are well known, but<br />
<strong>the</strong> people <strong>the</strong>mselves are not. They are simply images of suffer<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
abstractions <strong>in</strong> services of an idea: compassion for residents of East<br />
Timor, Rwanda, Niger, Guatemala, or Bangladesh, people whom<br />
Americans will never see face-to-face. 6<br />
In <strong>the</strong> f<strong>in</strong>al calculation, for all of its disturb<strong>in</strong>g strangeness, <strong>the</strong><br />
poem’s Theater of <strong>the</strong> Absurd stages a world not unlike our own.<br />
The “great leader” may or may not be who he purports to be. When<br />
<strong>the</strong> speaker sees <strong>the</strong> great leader “<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> distance,” he wonders if it is<br />
<strong>in</strong>deed <strong>the</strong> great leader, or “a great actor / Impersonat<strong>in</strong>g our great<br />
leader.” As <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> referential world, it is difficult to sort out what is