Over the past week I've been thinking a lot about how the poets of color that we've been reading differentiate themselves from the generation before them, while also interacting with the burden of representation and the structures which can serve as limitations and confinement. In the grad meeting that we had we talked a lot about the poets of color are choosing to interact with the mainstream, to comment directly on race through their poetry. One thing that has been sticking with me while reading this weeks selection is the idea that regardless of the choice the poet of color makes, this choice makes a comment on the expectations of poetries written by folks of color, and makes space for writing on one's own terms. As Chanel said: what makes me a poet of color is this beautiful brown skin I was born with and not what I write about.
With this preface, I was struck this week with the choice that so many of our poets made to write from and of the perspective of characters. This wasn't the confessional identity poetry of the generation before them, nor was it poetry that relied on used tropes like Hannibal Tabu's, but this was in no uncertain terms poetry that commented on how marginalization feels and how difference is viewed. Noguchi, de la Paz and Carbo all used characters entering into the fabric of America. This device fascinates me. It creates a bit of distance with which to enter the world that the poems create, making the readers feel like there is something fictional or other about the world. However, that "magical" distance works to plunge us into the realities of experience in this world, which is not distanced except by positionality, and smacks us over the head with the closeness of it.
The feel of this poetry is so different than the poetry that hinges on an I, wrapped up in the speakers experience. I love the kind of poetry that lets us into a first person voice, don't get me wrong. But I think there are limitations to that kind of writing, limitations which can become confining expectations of what poets of color are "allowed" to do in their poetry. The character driven work, I feel, speaks to viewership. These poets are resisting the expectation to narrate from a representative first person, and instead flip that expectation. The poets become viewers, claiming agency in how stories are told externally, and holding a mirror up to the world they write towards and inside of.
Noguchi's A Man Made Himself a Marionette, which parades as a fantastical poem, comes to circle into nothing fantastical in a comment on internalized expectations and, perhaps, assimilation. "Eventually he learned to resign himself,/ The man who wished for a little discipline, to live/ The life of a dummy." Boom. And de la Paz's family portraits, so dense and withholding and also full of magic, but which wind into the heart of experience of loneliness, distance from homeland, the different experiences of each within a family, and the tensions within those differences. "Now she has two wardrobes: 'Public' and 'Private.' Both these wardrobes, of sorts, come into view through these poems.
Returning to intimate I voices, however, I just have to say how in love with Pimone Triplett and Jennifer Chang I am. I'll save my raving for class.
Sorry this is late. I've had a bought of migraines this week, including one last night.
See you all tomorrow.
I like how you look at the use of characters as a point of entrance into these poems. It seems as if the experience of the narrative or language, experienced through the character, is a place of possible connection that is shared when characters are created. There appears to be intimacy established that can suspend disbelief or challenge a singular experience.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of John Donne's poem "A Valediction: forbidding mourning" where a third body is created to communicate across a deep distance.
ReplyDeleteTessa,
sorry about the migraines which sounds ugh. Hope you're better.
The persona poem does relieve the sense of the confessional or the view as victim and it carries the story to a place that makes it historic more than histrionic so to speak.
I am jazzed you found them powerful and the I poems as well. AS I was reading the massive list, I was almost overwhelmed by the strength of the poets.
"I was struck this week with the choice that so many of our poets made to write from and of the perspective of characters. This wasn't the confessional identity poetry of the generation before them, nor was it poetry that relied on used tropes like Hannibal Tabu's, but this was in no uncertain terms poetry that commented on how marginalization feels and how difference is viewed" <<< EVERYthing about your statement here is so spot on. I felt this! I think i'm a bit programmed to the "I" poem, so experiencing these pieces through the lens of nuanced characters was eye opening for me & I really appreciate them.
ReplyDelete"These poets are resisting the expectation to narrate from a representative first person, and instead flip that expectation. The poets become viewers, claiming agency in how stories are told externally, and holding a mirror up to the world they write towards and inside of." yeah yeah yeah!
ReplyDeletei was also struck by the use of characters and personae in many of these poets' works this week. i think that choice has an interesting connection to that issue of the burden of representation that weighs upon poets of color. one thing that often comes up with the usage of the first person in poetry is, whether or not the poem is about the poet itself, it is assumed to be. leading to responses like "oh, thank you so much for telling me about your life in your poems!" or "all that person writes about is themselves..." when people see the "i," they expect that the poet is writing from their personal experience, even if they may be drawing from multiple experiences or just inhabiting a voice, any voice. i think, also, poets of color often have a lot of defending to do of their poetry and come up against a lot of expectations: for "authentically" raced writing, for personal narratives of despair, poverty, etc, in terms of formal choices, etc. and i think something about abandonment of the "i" challenges these expectations.
also the "confessional" genre is kinda accusatory/diminishing in my opinion and often serves as a label to de-legitimize specific, significant realities. if you're a "confessional poet," the suggestion is you're writing about yourself or a narrow subject. niche-y. you're not producing work that has a wide appeal. using character and personae can deflect from someone getting pinned as "confessional," which also, to a certain extent, deflects that de-legitimization process. these poets are writing about experiences and realities that should be relevant for EVERYONE to hear, specifically because they are products of the complex, changing, interwoven societal arrangements that frame and shade how we interact with the world and each other.
Tessa -- hell, all y'all comments on this thread -- Rex, Chanel, Elmaz -- got me feeling some kinda way! I'm trippin. I've never thought about a more freeing way to incorporate the multiple stories that "I" can represent, as I've often used "I" in an extremely personal context. Truthfully, it's for therapy's sake, so it's necessary when it happens. When I hear poems in 1st person, I just usually assume something triggered the poet to speak from a direct 1st person narrative, and give them their props for that. But, as a writer, this has shown me the same sharp experiences and inspirations can develop in any perspective.
ReplyDeleteHowever, to see all the persona poems that were in the bunch, led me to see just how possible it is to not only tell the story of yourself, but also of others, but without massively generalizing these tales. Simply freakin brilliant!!