Blog 9 Identity

Language: Habib, 400, Maqalih,  Mahmud, 402, 425,  Thayil, 206; BB Hammad, 91+, Perdomo 23+,  Harris, 223;

Writing about identity and its specific and general references

The first thing that I noticed while reading the poems assigned through the book Language for a New Century, was that all the poems repeated personal pronouns such as “I” and “My”, which relates to the prompt of identity when thinking about personal identity.

In “Spiritus Mundi”, Thayil writes about the places he grew up, and then grew out of. Place can be a big part of identity I feel, particularly, places of existence and of growth, whether these be places with positive, negative, or a mixture of associations.

Habib also writes about place as a part of identity. Habib uses the phrase “my country” in each stanza(?) of his poem, claiming the location as a part of himself as if it were a part of his body. He describes its complexities with a familiarity as someone describing their own face, or the lines in their palms.

In Breakbeats, Perdomo writes a piece on a friend who talks about a loved one. The way it was written, with such detail, reminded me that at times one’s identity can sometimes lie in another’s. The familiarity with one another can become part of you. Some people say that this is unhealthy. I think it can be, but I don’t think it has to be. I personally have experienced both sides of the coin, both an unhealthy degradation of my own identity in favor of becoming someone who was merely a significant other, both due to various complications with mental illness and self-hatred, but I have also, at this point in my life, seen myself and my partner grow with each other and have our identities become ourselves plus love, rather than love minus ourselves, if that makes any sense. We lift each other up, making one another our best selves we can be.

Identity and its specific and general references-TD

Identity and its specific and general references

 The poets in this assignment used many cross cultural collisions to reference their identities in relation to the other people/ cultures around them.

Jeet Thayl transitioned through time using historical, generational, and directional clues to map out 45 years of his poet/personal journey. Thayl like many of this weeks poets uses religion to reflect the beginning of his identification . The opening line “ I was born in the Christian South of a subcontinent mad for religion”  establishes an initial context of how the journey began, how the journey begins for most of us.

The Story of my Country by Habib, repeats the religious  identifier “Zarathustra” in the poem. The repetition marks  a distinct feeling that reverberates throughout, giving the reader a history lesson on the origins of religion. Again the start of cultural identity ( culture being used here as the collective humanity that is managed by religious law) begins with religion. 

Another theme throughout the piece is the boundaries set by language, yet un broken by sound. Sound illocution through lyrics, both musical and poetic is used to bridge the poets to their identities in correspondence to the space and people around them.

Poetic language is  represented in Maqalih poem, Ma’reb Speaks, “ I come from there a crying qasida and an exiled letter.”  Maqalih’s choice of describing himself as coming from qasida, being and ancient Arab form of writing poetry, and  an exiled letter creates a relationship between the written word that has been detached or exiled. Does coming from a space that is ancient and exiled effect one’s contemporary identity?

The logistics of language/ written word can isolate and create confusion.   Hammad’s poem, break( rebirth), examines this in  the line “ so much language clustered so much damage cluttered morgue.” Hammad writes about is identity journey-again starting with religion –but also touching on the influence of the cluster of a cross cultural language collision that occurs when ones residency  combines many languages, dialects, and vernacular on one street. Hammad uses “bro language”  like “ nar”, urban slang like “yo”, Syrian words/ names like “gaza eyes” to manipulate the poem in order to deliver a sense of many identities clustered in one. Hammad’s line,  “sick ill music sickle self amnesia” implies that he is at least familiar enough with the African – American race enough to know the term “ sick” and “ill” mean something positive when referring to a beat, or line, and that sickle cell anemia  is a disease that is proportionately higher amongst Black people. Not to mention his word play was “ill”- sickle self amnesia= sickle cell anemia. Also the mention of Gaza eyes the non fiction book about a Syrian store owner who chooses to stay in New Orleans during Katrina and is arrested by the Us national guard  for supplying goods under suspicion of terrorist acts, adds to his “ foreign” place in Black culture being just as problematic to the powers that be because of his nationality.

Shit to write about, by Perdomo, had the most effect on me. Perdomo created a reader sensation  through the realistic interaction with his friend. It became personal, reminding me of  trips back home when you run into a good friend and they ask about your writing. They start by filling you in on all the “drama” of the block then they become a part of your next poem, a part of the “unauthorized autobiography” as Perdomo puts it. Weaved through this piece was also the love vibes. A man missing how his woman carved her  name in his back with the tips of her nails. That line you could feel, you were the woman tracing her name, or the man being lullabied to sleep by her hands.

The brother in the piece shares so much of his inner turmoil, he speaks with the writer, his friends about the “ scrambling nights and hand to mouth baby crying mornings”, that it becomes a short memoir, a snap chat of life as his knows it, both the pleasure and pain. At the end he asks, what profit can he gain from his pain…

Reflection #9: Identity

When writing about identity, specific and general references, I wonder if there is truly is a distinction? What could look like a general reference to the reader could indicate something super specific that makes up the poet’s identity if that makes sense. Take Maqalih for example - the opening line in Ma’reb Speaks states “I’m from the land of the qat.” and while this may be imply a general place in Maqalih’s home country, I couldn’t help but wonder if the wording could allude to more about his identity. Like is qat, that particular area where is grows, could that reference infer a certain way of living only distinctive to the reader and those from that area?

I get that same feeling of how something looks to me as a reader could be different from how the poet intends in Break (rebirth). When I went over the first line “Jesus left at three thirty,” I assumed this was a general religious reference then I wondered if it was a person named Jesus and if I was posing my religious identity on the writer.  

Speaking of imposing identity, I first thought there was Islander dialect being used when I read “iced tea wa break me sick” but then Zeitoun is a book about Syrian-American owner of a painting company who became a hometown hero during Hurricane Katrina. Taqaism or Taqsim is Arabic/Greek Middle Eastern musical composition. These are specific references that let us know the identity of the speaker and gives me clues that although I may not fully understand the dialect being used, those sounds/words may mean something for the audience intended to hear that. This makes me think we have to be mindful of my literary narrative,to consider the identify of the poet and how my identify as the reader may misinterpret their work.  

Other thoughts on identity that may or may not be related: when thinking about Perdomo - Shit To Write About, I started picking up on Identity as our personality. Sometimes identity can be limited to gender, race, area we live in when there are other factors to it - what you like and dislikes that add to your identity. When reading this poem my mind went to Marvel Comics with the Kriptonite and Spy Girl notes. The use of Spanish signifies the race of the poet. There is significance in the capitalization of Monster let's me know that it may be drugs or a disease like HIV not a real monster. The next lines about crime/violence help me back this idea up

“I just lost my mother to the Monster and I’m waiting for a formula that I can drink to grow stronger. Our boys are getting blown off the corners like ghost town dirt. I keep running when the cages get closer, crying when no one is looking, feeling like everyday is gonna be the last time I see my son and then I start thinking, if I wanted to write a book how much you think my life would be worth?”

Blog 9

Identity, in the poems we read for this week, is crafted in distinct ways.  This crafting proves in itself that the formation of identity is highly structural and situational.  In “Deathsleep,” Al Mahmud creates a dazed an dreary tone- he tells the story of a man fractured from his family because he is a distanced father and husband, sleeps all day and night and overall has difficulties relating to other humans.  His identity hinges on the opinions of others- namely his wife.  Six stanzas (almost half of the poem) are spent recounting his wife’s opinions on his condition.  Mahmud writes “my married wife/ has no doubt that/ I am not a real human” (403).  Although I believe these lines are supposed to be metaphorical or an ironic statement on the nature of the relationship between the speaker and his wife, they also demonstrate that the speaker’s identity and humanity directly hinges on the opinions of his wife (a person presumed to have normative sleeping patterns).  One might wonder if, because Mahmud is so annoyed by his family, his slumber is self-induced so as not to deal with anyone.  The discourse around identity presented in this poem surrounds avoidance and other people’s construction of one’s own identity. 

In “Ma’reb Speaks” by Abd Al-Aziz Al-Maqalih presents a speaker whose identity is made up of everything they read, the landscape, history and politics of the Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula.  Because the speaker is supposed to encompass all of Yemen, the speaker is both rich and poor, oppressed and free.  Al- Aziz Al- Maqalih references poverty and imprisonment several times, with “prison”, “shackles”, “I own no gold”, “feat are bare”, “naked head”, “hunger rivets me” (425).  The speaker also claims to be “the descendant of nobility,” displaced for political rhetoric and outspokenness (425).  The “Arab sun” leads the speaker’s journey of negotiating their identity.  The speaker understands that the “Arab sun” led their ancestors to greatness and will lead the speaker on the correct path, whatever the correct path is supposed to be.   

In part one of Willie Perdomo’s “Writing what you Know” details a young man named Papo’s experience on a school field trip to the library.  In this prose-poem, the speaker takes a lot of creative liberties.  The speaker gives the audience clues that Papo might not fully comprehend at his age about Puerto Rican identity and it’s formation.  Papo sees a book with his “block on the cover” (28).  He runs to it, instinctively, because he sees himself represented in the library.  The teacher tells him, inadvertently, that what the librarian is saying is more important than whether or not he sees himself in literature.  This could actually be a huge deterrent for Papo in regards to reading (sorry, early literacy advocate).  To me, the way that we engage in literature is reading about what interests us.  If a kid likes to read about power rangers or the town/ neighborhood they are from, it’s important that they are allowed to engage with books that talk about those things- so that they can read fluently and consistently.  The things one has an affinity for have a lot to do with one’s positionality in society and the traditions that they come from.  As an educator, it can be very hard to find the balance between making sure students understand classroom expectations and guidelines and making sure they are able to engage with education in a way that encompasses who they are and challenges them to grow (but does not deny or disparage their identity).  Classroom rules teachers are expected to enforce are not conducive to what is natural to students (i.e. limiting mobility and speech).  Teachers are often in a vulnerable position as well, they can lose their jobs if they do not comply with rules that they understand do not work for most learners.  I can understand why the teacher may have asked Papo to listen to the librarian.  However, I feel for Papo in that he craved intellectual stimulation and wanted to engage with reading in a way that would have strengthened his relationship with learning in the long run.  Ultimately, I think this portion of the poem is saying that identity is constructed by structures and individuals who tell us what we can and cannot do from an early age. 

Blog# 10: Me, You They Them & Theirs by Tien Dang

Prompt: Writing about identity and its specific and general references.

"If I wanted to write a book how much you think my life would be worth?" (Perdomo 24).

Answer: I don't know.

Can anyone really answer that question and provide an answer to its truest entirety?  An answer that justifies the person, the work, the people, the words?

I don't know.

How do we put a price to the words we write and justify the stories we tell to be worthy of that price?  And or what if the cost of the story was worth a life but yet we put a price on the story to monetize it?  To profit from telling the story?  Is it still profit then if that's what it took to have a story to tell?

As Jeet Thayil writes, "Everything that lives, lives on" (208).

My existence is what reaches and intertwines with others in hopes that I made a difference to them - how I work with the youth to better themselves and come to peace with their traditional, cultural, and generational differences with their families.

The words I read, is the breath I take in to help me move on to my next day and the day after.  Every conversation shared.

It reminds of this excerpt:

Image: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/d3/ae/ed/d3aeed6233dda762b084c48ae318869f.jpg

As I read this work and listen and read the work of my peers, I am nourished to move on to the next day and the day after.  It helps carry me on and motivate me to do better and better and work harder.  

Identity is a funny thing because people almost always try to define who or what you are for you because it fits into their comfort zone of defining you immediately.  Yet, I found that as I am growing older and learning more from my readings, peers, and ever changing circumstances and surroundings, I change and redefine myself.  How or why does identity need to be?  How or why is there a period at the end to make it final?

As you all know, I'm getting married at the end of the year and everyone keeps expecting me to change my last name.  My response: why do I need to?  

What if he wants to change his last name?

What if we both change our last names?
What if no one changes their last names?

What if he changes his last name to mine?

What's so important and final about this?  It's always changing and always molding.  Who I was 5 - 10 years ago is completely different now and I would define myself completely differently.  Even then, when interviewers or people tell me "So tell me about yourself," I don't even know where to began.  How do you easily define yourself or say enough to encompass all that you feel you are?  

Who Is You

Who Is You

Am I who I say I am or am I who you say I am?  Who is you?  Is you the world, the media, my neighborhood, my friends, the admissions or corrections officer?  Is it the sun or the sand in my shoe?  What or who determines the idea of me?

The poets we studied this week answer specifically through the possessive use of the words “my” and “mine” whereby they align themselves with the state, the land, the conflicts that define them and their families.  Habib begins the poem, The Story of My Country by the automatic association made through the claim of “my country.”  He calls his country through a number of metaphors.  It is a book, an old hymn, a burning garden.  Throughout the descriptions of his country, the thread remains consistent that it is his country.  By it being his country, he is it’s as well.

Jeet Thayil begins with the most primary understanding of identification and that is birth.  He “was born in the Christian South.”  His poem Spiritus Mundi, is titled after a term W.B. Yeats used “to describe the collective soul of the universe containing the memories of all time. From 'Spiritus Mundi,' Yeats believed, came all poets' inspiration.  https://www.quora.com/What-is-spiritus-mundi

            On the surface, the Latin words spiritus mundi inform the reader that a world spirit is about to be revealed through the poem that follows this title.  The poem takes the reader through the historical events of his country and the cities he’s lived in.  He specifies these existences through food and clothing customary to the area.  But he catches himself short of being an identifiable part of it when he demonstrates his inability to recall an entire summer of his time in it.  Perhaps his many moves from areas ruled by religion to “small buildings” like brownstones and walkups have also removed his sense of identification with his birthplace, hence his claiming the entire world for his identity as a world spirit.

There is another tactic of self-identifying used by the authors that shows up prominently in The BreakBeat Poets:  speaking through the code of language.  Suheir Hammad uses the word wa to represent we, what, where and probably other meanings which I can’t decipher because I don’t share the cultural background or community within which she thrives.  I discern its meaning along with “ana sawah wa thousand wa one nights wa ahwak” as expression meant for others who share her identity and as an outside reader, I can allow for not knowing, respectfully.

Willie Perdomo hits this point hard.  He’s from New York.  He’s from a Spanish-speaking place.  He’s from a place where his friends are more than street crews to be avoided, they are friends like brothers to be embraced.  When Krip asks for a poem, Perdomo gives the reader a previous poem then continues.  He gives us Krip and the battles he must wage to even claim the worth of his life, let alone the explorations of identity.

The trip to Rikers, the girl who might have been had she survived, the bodega he names Caridad’s Grocery and the names of the brothers in El Barrio all deliver the words of his surroundings and environment and familia (which is what is familiar) which is who he is - and what makes us.  He uses Spanish because that is one of the languages he and those around him know.  Identity for Perdomo is barrio, manos, (hermanos-brothers or manos-hands) and the danger of being Puerto Rican in New York.  It is an identity that is targeted, an identity he shares and one he’s learned to defend.  And love.