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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INTRODUCTION 15<br />
“impotent” to engage <strong>the</strong> public sphere (39). Hirsch writes that<br />
<strong>poetry</strong> is primarily a communication between strangers and a private<br />
exchange between writer and reader (How to 16), and Walter<br />
Kalaidjian po<strong>in</strong>ts out that contemporary <strong>poetry</strong> has reproduced ra<strong>the</strong>r<br />
than contested formalism’s “swerve from social change” as he claims<br />
that <strong>the</strong> poetics of private lyricism are <strong>the</strong> “symbolic form par excellence<br />
of <strong>the</strong> more recent American impulse to conta<strong>in</strong> and repress <strong>the</strong><br />
social text of contemporary history” (Languages 4). Vernon Shetley,<br />
for his part, suggests that <strong>the</strong> modernist legacy of “difficult” <strong>poetry</strong><br />
has been <strong>in</strong>herited by post-WWII poets and audiences (14). Potential<br />
audiences may avoid <strong>poetry</strong> because <strong>the</strong>y see it as difficult and<br />
<strong>in</strong>accessible, a perception that has opened a gap between poets and<br />
audiences, a gap that hip-hop artists have seized upon. It is not outrageous<br />
to claim that teenagers and college students may have read<br />
<strong>poetry</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> 1960s, but now listen to hip-hop. Even so, Shetley<br />
argues that <strong>poetry</strong> should become more difficult. Fur<strong>the</strong>r, <strong>the</strong><br />
“romantic persistence” of American <strong>poetry</strong>, as described by P<strong>in</strong>sky <strong>in</strong><br />
The Situation of Poetry, can prevent <strong>poetry</strong>’s engagement with social<br />
and <strong>political</strong> spheres if it is viewed as <strong>in</strong>sular and primarily concerned<br />
with <strong>in</strong>ternal m<strong>in</strong>d states ra<strong>the</strong>r than public issues.<br />
Similarly, poet and current NEA chair Dana Gioia describes “<strong>the</strong><br />
energy of American <strong>poetry</strong>” as focused <strong>in</strong>ward toward a self-conta<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
community of relatively homogenous readers, which leads to (and is a<br />
product of ) a lack of a broader public role for poets (2), someth<strong>in</strong>g<br />
we see chang<strong>in</strong>g with a broader public activist role for many hip-hop<br />
artists. Fur<strong>the</strong>r, Goodman po<strong>in</strong>ts out, <strong>the</strong>n elides, <strong>the</strong> fact that Joy<br />
Harjo and o<strong>the</strong>r engaged poets address <strong>the</strong>ir <strong>poetry</strong> to two<br />
audiences—<strong>the</strong> broad literary community and those readers who<br />
share <strong>the</strong> poet’s <strong>political</strong> perspectives. Problematically, she discusses<br />
how Harjo’s poems work to transform readers’ attitudes, without<br />
acknowledg<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> circularity of her argument (41–42). This situation<br />
seems pert<strong>in</strong>ent for many <strong>political</strong> poems—who reads <strong>the</strong>m but those<br />
who already agree with <strong>the</strong> <strong>political</strong> positions and sensibilities <strong>the</strong>re<strong>in</strong>?<br />
How is this form of address a <strong>political</strong> strategy, unless a <strong>political</strong> poem<br />
is <strong>in</strong>tended simply to mobilize people and to crystallize or articulate<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir views?<br />
Hip-hop music, on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, has a greater potential to mold<br />
latent op<strong>in</strong>ions, generate <strong>in</strong>terests, and spur burgeon<strong>in</strong>g educations.<br />
Partly because teenagers listen to hip-hop music at impressionable<br />
ages, hip-hop lyrics can lead <strong>the</strong>m <strong>in</strong> a variety of directions. Hip-hop,<br />
unlike much <strong>political</strong> <strong>poetry</strong>, often does not merely “preach to <strong>the</strong><br />
choir,” a problem that engaged artists often bemoan about <strong>the</strong>ir work