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 27<br />
<strong>in</strong>sistence on <strong>the</strong> “power to know <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r’s pa<strong>in</strong> and <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>justices<br />
that produced it” (155).<br />
Much <strong>the</strong> same can be said (often m<strong>in</strong>us <strong>the</strong> shame) for confrontational<br />
poems, which few poets work<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> pr<strong>in</strong>t still write. That mantle<br />
has been taken over by many hip-hop artists. Amiri Baraka, Sonia<br />
Sanchez, Audre Lorde, June Jordan, and Nikki Giovanni have all written<br />
great confrontational poems that challenge <strong>the</strong>ir readers to act and<br />
to redef<strong>in</strong>e <strong>the</strong>ir consciousnesses. Authoritative <strong>poetry</strong>, whe<strong>the</strong>r of<br />
Rich’s variety or like that which came out of <strong>the</strong> Black Arts Movement<br />
and <strong>the</strong> Chicano Movement, does not necessarily rely on empirical<br />
experience, events, happen<strong>in</strong>gs, or referents, which is not to imply<br />
that <strong>the</strong> <strong>poetry</strong> of experiential agency relies exclusively on a staunch<br />
model of factual history. As Goodman says <strong>in</strong> her discussion of a Harjo<br />
poem, “poetic evidence” is <strong>the</strong> only type of validation necessary for<br />
<strong>political</strong> <strong>poetry</strong> (45). F<strong>in</strong>ally, authoritative agency often circumvents<br />
<strong>the</strong> usual channels of compromise and negotiation <strong>in</strong> social and<br />
<strong>political</strong> space, a strategy that has provoked <strong>the</strong> sensibilities of many<br />
critics, one of whom I write about briefly <strong>in</strong> this section of chapter 1. At<br />
<strong>the</strong> end of <strong>the</strong> chapter, I discuss at length a poem that successfully<br />
jo<strong>in</strong>s <strong>the</strong> strategies of both experiential and authoritative agency.<br />
Poems of equivocal agency, which I analyze <strong>in</strong> chapter 2, challenge<br />
poems of experience while ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g a strategic <strong>political</strong> engagement,<br />
show<strong>in</strong>g that <strong>political</strong> <strong>poetry</strong> need not rely exclusively on<br />
referentiality or experience. Whereas <strong>the</strong> problems of memory are<br />
complicated by <strong>the</strong> poems <strong>in</strong> chapter 1, those <strong>in</strong> chapter 2 rely on a<br />
different model of agency. Often <strong>in</strong>fluenced by surrealism, magic realism,<br />
and Native American traditions, <strong>the</strong> poems I exam<strong>in</strong>e here problematize<br />
notions of direct experience, while foreground<strong>in</strong>g<br />
equivocation, paradox, strangeness, irony, and parodic voices. This<br />
<strong>in</strong>direction can lead to a ghostly sense of absence <strong>in</strong> many poems.<br />
These poems, moreover, often articulate utopian or dystopian<br />
visions that depart from identifiable contexts, speakers, and human<br />
presence, <strong>the</strong>reby assert<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> primary agency of <strong>the</strong> imag<strong>in</strong>ation.<br />
These poems suggest that persuasion and <strong>the</strong> representation of realistic<br />
lived experience are unnecessary for <strong>political</strong> <strong>poetry</strong>, while <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
eerie, parodic, and prophetic voices are able to make more global<br />
claims than poems of experience can.<br />
Poems such as Simic’s “Cameo Appearance,” as well as poems from<br />
Merw<strong>in</strong>’s The Lice and Forché’s The Angel of History, as well as o<strong>the</strong>rs<br />
by Harjo, Sherman Alexie, Charles Wright, and Marcos McPeek<br />
Villatoro rely not on first-person speakers poeticiz<strong>in</strong>g personal experience,<br />
but on transpersonal experiences of loss and oppression, often