Discussions of African American Poetry
One of the things I love most about poetry (find enlivening, necessary, joyous) is the way it creates habitats for associative movements of mind. Poems are exquisitely capable of progressing in ways underprivileged by our culture’s dominant (normative) modes of logic and narrative, ways that much more truly reflect how we think and feel as we sort, at lightning speed, through the various kinds of input—sensory/perceptual, emotional, intellectual—and multiple time zones—the present’s circumstances, the past’s memories (implicit and explicit), the future’s ideations—that make up the reality of any given moment. A multitude of beautiful examples of this abound, some of which I hope to point to soon. Presently though, this associative movement of mind so natural to poetry, to our brains, and to many other cultures’ cosmologies leads me to point out two interesting and meaningful discussions of contemporary African American poetry. Here’s how I got there:
In the last few days, my interest has been piqued, along with many others’, by the unfolding mini-drama over the portrayal of Michele Obama in New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor’s new book The Obamas (excerpted in the Times). I’ve been intrigued by Michele Obama since she entered the national scene. I went to high school with Jodi Kantor, and briefly studied journalism with the same teacher (Helen Smith), whose former students are disproportionately represented in major national publications. I’m curious about the gender issues attached to “First Ladies,” and particularly about Michele Obama’s recent statement that the new book, and perhaps people in general, want to see her as “some angry black woman.” The archetypes, stereotypes, and overall gender and racial politics swirling around in this context are fascinating and deeply important, but I’m a poet, writing in 2012, and enjoying the flood of extraordinary contemporary work being published in a seemingly ever expanding field. So, my mind turned immediately to two fascinating discussions of contemporary African American poetry, which you should check out:
Arielle Greenberg’s recent online article in American Poetry Review:
https://www.aprweb.org/
jubilat’s African American Experimental Poetry Forum (edited by Terrance Hayes and Evie Shockley): http://www.jubilat.org/
[...] One of the things I love most about poetry (find enlivening, necessary, joyous) is the way it creates habitats for associative movements of mind. Poems are exquisitely capable of progressing in ways underprivileged by our culture’s dominant (normative) modes of logic and narrative, ways that much more truly reflect how we think and feel as we sort, at lightning speed, through the various kinds of input—sensory/perceptual, emotional, intellectual—and multiple time zones—the present’s circumstances, the past’s memories (implicit and explicit), the future’s ideations—that make up the reality of any given moment. A multitude of beautiful examples of this abound, some of which I hope to point to soon. Presently though, this associative movement of mind so natural to poetry, to our brains, and to many other cultures’ cosmologies leads me to point out two interesting and meaningful discussions of contemporary African American poetry. Here’s how I got there: More… [...]
[...] One of the things I love most about poetry (find enlivening, necessary, joyous) is the way it creates habitats for associative movements of mind. Poems are exquisitely capable of progressing in ways underprivileged by our culture’s dominant (normative) modes of logic and narrative, ways that much more truly reflect how we think and feel as we sort, at lightning speed, through the various kinds of input—sensory/perceptual, emotional, intellectual—and multiple time zones—the present’s circumstances, the past’s memories (implicit and explicit), the future’s ideations—that make up the reality of any given moment. More . . . [...]