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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CONCLUSION 191<br />
from what Muriel Rukeyser called <strong>poetry</strong> of “documentary fact”<br />
(cited <strong>in</strong> What Is Found 21) <strong>in</strong> comment<strong>in</strong>g on historical events, but<br />
<strong>the</strong>y also often foreground voices of experience with regard to historical<br />
conditions and trends ra<strong>the</strong>r than to specific events. These poems<br />
are sometimes criticized as mere documentary or polemic, especially<br />
when written by women or m<strong>in</strong>orities, but <strong>the</strong>y reimag<strong>in</strong>e experience<br />
<strong>in</strong> ways that transform as <strong>the</strong>y document. Poems of authoritative<br />
agency embody experience, but <strong>the</strong>y extrapolate from that experience<br />
<strong>the</strong> authority to speak for entire communities <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> traditions of<br />
Whitman and <strong>the</strong> griot. They are uncompromis<strong>in</strong>g, and <strong>the</strong>ir grave,<br />
urgent voices tackle directly press<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>justices. They do not, as poet<br />
David Mura writes, “surrender vast realms of experience” to <strong>the</strong><br />
“objectivity” of discipl<strong>in</strong>es such as journalism, economics, and <strong>political</strong><br />
science as “<strong>the</strong> sole voice[s] which speak on events and topics of<br />
relevance to us all” (cited <strong>in</strong> What Is Found 121).<br />
In chapter 2 I discussed two types of equivocal agency, comprehensive<br />
and particular. These strategies are often more difficult to describe<br />
than those of chapter 1. By nature, <strong>the</strong>se poems are often <strong>in</strong>direct,<br />
mysterious, haunt<strong>in</strong>g, enchant<strong>in</strong>g, duplicitous, or some comb<strong>in</strong>ation<br />
<strong>the</strong>reof. They generally depart from simple l<strong>in</strong>ear narratives and from<br />
identifiable first-person speakers. They often have parodic, distant,<br />
satirical voices. For example, Simic uses first-person speakers, but <strong>the</strong>y<br />
are ghostly, more present <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir absence than <strong>in</strong> any physical body.<br />
His speakers and characters “vanish / With a touch of <strong>the</strong> hand”<br />
(“Cameo Appearance”). Poems of equivocal agency are primarily<br />
<strong>political</strong> through <strong>the</strong> imag<strong>in</strong>ation, which is itself <strong>the</strong> uncompromis<strong>in</strong>g<br />
force that refuses capitulation to repressive socio<strong>political</strong> paradigms or<br />
<strong>the</strong> limitations of a <strong>poetry</strong> of experience.<br />
In chapter 3 I discussed poems of migratory agency, which are not<br />
simply “hybrid.” They do not foreground multiple languages <strong>in</strong> service<br />
of a hybrid, modern (or postmodern) art. Their figures of voice<br />
migrate between languages, cultures, worldviews, and geographies,<br />
and <strong>in</strong> do<strong>in</strong>g so beg<strong>in</strong> to challenge how we speak of America. The sk<strong>in</strong><br />
of <strong>the</strong>se poems holds a multiplicity of liv<strong>in</strong>g, breath<strong>in</strong>g communities<br />
mov<strong>in</strong>g between languages and cultures. These poems—whe<strong>the</strong>r<br />
mostly <strong>in</strong> English or <strong>in</strong> Spanish—actively create a multicultural, multil<strong>in</strong>gual<br />
<strong>poetry</strong> of <strong>the</strong> Americas and of <strong>the</strong> United States. They are,<br />
moreover, at <strong>the</strong> forefront of a burgeon<strong>in</strong>g Lat<strong>in</strong>a/o <strong>century</strong> <strong>in</strong> U.S.<br />
literature and culture.<br />
In chapter 4 I argued that hip-hop has a unique form of poetic<br />
agency activated by its progressive voices, live performances, and<br />
community-based values. The chapter captures only a small, but