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
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88 AMERICAN POLITICAL POETRY<br />
real from what is fabrication, especially <strong>in</strong> a country <strong>in</strong> which one of<br />
our most revered presidents was a Hollywood actor.<br />
The speaker’s question also shows a keen understand<strong>in</strong>g of<br />
Shakespeare’s most pliable conceit: <strong>the</strong> Theatrum Mundi (Theater of<br />
<strong>the</strong> World) trope, <strong>in</strong> which “All <strong>the</strong> world’s a stage / And all <strong>the</strong> men<br />
and women merely players” (As You Like It). Shakespeare put this<br />
notion to great use and so does Simic; <strong>in</strong> “Cameo Appearance” <strong>the</strong><br />
world of suffer<strong>in</strong>g is a stage viewed from afar. Tragically, however, <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> f<strong>in</strong>al stanza <strong>the</strong> speaker po<strong>in</strong>ts out that disaster is not with<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
purview of this trope. In this burn<strong>in</strong>g city “one take / Is all <strong>the</strong>y had<br />
time for.” What is really absurd, accord<strong>in</strong>g to “Cameo Appearance,”<br />
is that after <strong>the</strong> planes leave <strong>the</strong> burn<strong>in</strong>g city, <strong>the</strong> cameras leave as well.<br />
The refugees stand “dazed <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> burn<strong>in</strong>g city, / But of course,<br />
<strong>the</strong>y didn’t film that.” When <strong>the</strong> sensational events are over and <strong>the</strong><br />
requisite images captured, those wield<strong>in</strong>g cameras leave and <strong>the</strong><br />
suffer<strong>in</strong>g cont<strong>in</strong>ues unabated, unnoticed.<br />
Simic’s rhetorical strategy <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>se two poems is <strong>in</strong>clusive. He elides<br />
context and specificity for a rounder, ironic <strong>in</strong>dictment of <strong>the</strong><br />
ravages of and justifications for contemporary warfare. If ei<strong>the</strong>r of<br />
<strong>the</strong>se poems had a def<strong>in</strong>ite geo<strong>political</strong> context—if <strong>the</strong> president<br />
of “Paradise Motel” were P<strong>in</strong>ochet, Mugabe, or Milosevic—<strong>the</strong>y<br />
would forfeit a large amount of <strong>the</strong>ir power to unsettle and disturb. As<br />
such, <strong>the</strong>se poems rely on <strong>the</strong> reader’s experiences and on her ability<br />
to imag<strong>in</strong>e a context, ra<strong>the</strong>r than on <strong>the</strong> speaker-poet’s experiences. In<br />
her sem<strong>in</strong>al work on closure <strong>in</strong> <strong>poetry</strong>, Barbara Herrnste<strong>in</strong>-Smith<br />
asserts that a poem “cannot be regarded as totally <strong>in</strong>dependent” of<br />
<strong>the</strong> “reader’s extr<strong>in</strong>sic experiences,” which <strong>in</strong>clude experiences<br />
of “language itself.” She cont<strong>in</strong>ues, “It is upon our past l<strong>in</strong>guistic<br />
experiences that <strong>poetry</strong> depends for its most characteristic effects”<br />
(97; orig<strong>in</strong>al emphasis). Therefore, a reader br<strong>in</strong>gs her experiences to<br />
a read<strong>in</strong>g, thus mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> lack of specific leaders <strong>in</strong> Simic’s poems<br />
encompass<strong>in</strong>g ways to reference readers’ experiences. Fur<strong>the</strong>r, a<br />
reader’s experience of language allows <strong>the</strong> poets <strong>in</strong> this chapter to<br />
approach subjects elliptically because <strong>the</strong>y assume that readers have<br />
imag<strong>in</strong>ations with which to leap and bound alongside <strong>the</strong> poems.<br />
In o<strong>the</strong>r words, Simic’s poems show <strong>the</strong> benefits of equivocal agency<br />
vis-à-vis embodied agency—poems <strong>in</strong> chapter 2 can be more flexible<br />
and less strident.<br />
In “A Postcolonial Tale” (The Woman Who Fell from <strong>the</strong> Sky 1994),<br />
Joy Harjo imag<strong>in</strong>es imag<strong>in</strong>ation as a primary tool for social change. In<br />
her customary form—<strong>the</strong> prose poem—Harjo’s first-person plural<br />
speaker delivers platitudes about creation and imag<strong>in</strong>ation. Unlike