When reading Poetry and Protest I cannot help but allow the author bios to affect my broader context of who. Behind each poem is a poet with a unique personal history. Their influences, experience, upbringing are each a powerful 'who' that is written within their poetry consciously or not. Then in the poems there is the 'who' that is speaking, the 'who' that is being talked about, the 'who' that is the intended reader. Or another more broad, but in a way more concise, question that I began to wonder about while reading is 'who do I become when I read this poem?'
In The Great Wait" Madhubuti uses language with such power, employing repetition, rearrangement, and rhyme in really creative and awesome ways. I highly encourage you to read this poem out loud, if you haven't already. The way the words weave together its like they are dancing with each other. I see this poem as a reflection on history and on 'who'. The two main 'who's' in this poem seem to be the waiters and the movers. The waiters take on many different roles for the reader and that is why I think of this poem as a reflection, as I move through the piece I see the speaker go through different thought and emotions about these 'waiters', their history and their future.
Devorah Major’s “On Continuing to Struggle” is so powerful because it breaks away from a certain expected narrative of black poetry. Calling out the narrative of 'Black man kills white cop' that was forced unto Mumia and refusing to take part in that narrative and cycle. Taking control of her own narrative and poetry outside of what the white world has given her. I think the message and spirit in this poem ("I am not going to carry banners of defeat and wear shackles of resignation i say i want to sin praises in celebration") is so important for the current time and the work ahead of us. I'm not really sure what the italics mean in the poem, possibly quotes or possibly meant to be in a different voice (a different who?)
Rose,
ReplyDeleteThank you! It hadn't even crossed my mind to wonder who I am when I read the poems, that was mind blowing, and made me have to go back and think about that as I reread them all. I found that my emotional state, and critical mind turned on and I began researching different aspects of different poems. In the Great Wait for instance, I started to wonder what type of privilege to the movers have, it was apparent from the start that they could be white, but then I realized that Africaners are also white. I think they are descendants of Dutch Protestant settlers. So then I thought maybe it's about class dynamics in South Africa. This poem also prompted me to reflect on institutional racism and how stereotyping become indeed believed by the very people they're created to oppress through repetition in mainstream media, education systems, dominant narratives and so on. This poem does exactly that, it repeats and recycles common words that in turn become familiar. While asking myself who I was reading the poem I associated myself with the waiters and not the movers.
"Who do I become when I read this poem?" is such an intriguing question for this week. You really get into the specific way that fiction and poetry allow us to see the world through another person's perspective. But the real challenge is to then take that widened consciousness and actually do something with it! Thank you for this reminder~ <3
ReplyDeleteI too find "Who do I become when I read this poem?" to be an interesting question. I am curious what you felt about this question when you think about it now. I think each poem is an experience that influences readers. Who we become is based on who we are, who we were and who what the poem wants us to see. It is such a simple yet complicated question!
ReplyDeleteRose, thanks for your words! The Great Wait" resonated with me similarly that "language with such power, employing repetition, rearrangement, and rhyme" (which was a powerful way of describing how he crafts his poetry). Madhubuti has been one of those poets that have deepen my understanding of the black arts movement, what does it mean to resist in the context of being black, to "who" yourself and ask others to do so as well. But also I think a lot about what it's like to go through hell and to make these choices to (whether we acknowledge it or not) to be, to move, to wait. What does it take to become the larger "who" that we speak of.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes to your analysis on Majors. Reclamation of a narrative is powerful stuff, the work that poets and activists and resisters are putting forth to the world is just that. Honestly haven't thought of Mumia for a while, often in the context of Black August so this poem whapped me good in the face.
this is a very successful entry Rose, you have some powerful observations, the least not being the larger question of who i become. it speaks not only to the power of these poems but the power of art and its reach as emotional as well as informational, as well as sensory.
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