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Lavender-Smith exercise:

At first, I felt uncomfortable about doing it--talking about a subject I don't really talk about. I never talk about race--it's not that I'm afraid to or anything, but as a black poet, it feels almost expected. I'm still thinking about whether I want to participate in Claudia Rankine's discussion (via email), but I'm constantly reminded of Hughes' essay "The Negro and the Racial Mountain" and what I feel to be bad advice, where essentially, he states a black poet wanting to be a "good" poet means they want to be perceived as white. I just think it's limiting what race politics alone as a vehicle, or even explicit choices to nuance scenes in color for a work. It doesn't allow authentic projections or projections in general at times, and sometimes making those leaps is the only way you approach something interesting, some sort of new truth.

I guess, overall, is that if I start identifying my writing as specifically "one note," I feel I may write myself into corners, even if there is a decent amount of breadth to cover. In this way, I think white poets have it so much easier to "break it" in the industry versus black--there's not that immediate expectation to "write white" in terms of experience, as what white can be has never been limited, in this country. Oversimplification? Of course. And I think Hoagland, in a way, tries to investigate this from the position of privilege, which I think is the most authentic way a white poet can write about race in this country. Sure, the poem is flippant, but I think that is to be mimetic of reactions whites have about the advancement of the other in this country, where "birthrights" may be stolen by those "undeserving" or "tribal." However, any success this poem does is done away by dickish and flippant remarks--wah wah, we know race is a slippery issue, but that's besides the point. If you want to have sophisticated conversations about important issues, you have to take it seriously--dialogue will always be open if parties express genuine interest.

It feels to me, really, that Hoagland isn't ready for this conversation and is using the whole persona != speaker thing as a cop-out to avoid a) substantially defending his work or b) admitting the work's flaws and turning that into another discussion. The goal shouldn't be to vilify Hoagland; rather, the opposite. It's ballsy to have a piss-poor pseudonym for Venus Williams in a poem, and it takes a certain vulnerability to admit, even in something as "light" as sport, that you'd rather not see demographic x rise in the ranks. Does this make anything more or less right? No, but understanding is the key to doing anything productive with content we, as humans, or as artists, don't agree with.

Heading back towards the exercise itself, but one step at a time, I don't feel the need to constantly identify myself as "that black poet Glenn" or "the black first year poetry student at Columbia"; I see myself as so much more that giving precedent to one part of my being versus another seems like an ultimate act of dishonesty. If you're proud of your heritage or a certain aspect of your life, that's good--but when you feel the need to force a certain belief/ideology/etc., and this approach leaves nothing else...well, you're sketching two-dimensional--is this really a good look for a place (and often, a people) who thrive on being pluralistic?

And back fully on topic, I dug the exercise because, eventually, I found a comfortable way (for me) to talk about race. I always hear it, based on my words or actions, that I'm the "whitest black kid" people know. It doesn't bother me, really, as I tend to take very little in life seriously (not in a naive sense, but more a constant global sense), and of all things, something that isn't going to physically hurt me, my family, or way of life? Is this too casual an attitude about race relations? Maybe. Maybe, in a sense, there is some naivete in thinking people who call me friend or some permutation of the word have the best intentions. Eh. Anyway, I just built a list of stereotypes, truism, random facts about me, just a whole bunch of different constructions and literally made it into a black and white issue. I was surprised about the positive feedback in class (I thought I blew it), and the poem has grown substantially. Right now, I'm just torn as to "where," formatting, it should go. I think the content is at a point now where I feel comfortable in the sort of "argument" it's presenting without relying on too much cheap/not widely "stereotypical" information, and I'm just torn whether the lineation still works or if a prose block is needed--if I leave the line breaks, I want them to mean something besides beginning a new unit; I still want some sense of enjambment/delight.

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Yes Thing, NoThing

At times, you could really tell that stuff was meant to be performed. The more "traditional" poems were concise, but there are issues with trying to represent dynamic language on the page. In undergrad, I did a project on spoken word artist Kirk Nugent. In regards to poetry, I immediately connected to spoken word artists, and having seen him perform live a few times at my alma mater, I thought he was quality. How flat things fell on the page. It didn't even look like an attempt was made to represent any sort of "intensity," but standard lines of text, some better lineated than others. That's part of the issue with poetry as representation--there are schools of spoken word artist that putting page to work is a disservice; there are schools of experimental writers whose live performances would be more "what the fuck" moments than visceral connections. I'm not sure if you need to meet in the middle, but it seems like the further you go towards one end of the spectrum, the more potential audience you're going to miss out on. If you have a specific group that will support you, this is a non-issue, but if you want your work to reach beyond an establish group...well, concessions need to be made.

I enjoyed the reading (though I had to get on a later train)--even though it appeared Torres was sick, he was relatively engaging. I guess I expected "more" in terms of dynamism in the peformance, but it seemed to only happen when he was literally telling a story within a poem or doing poly-lingual jumps. His last piece was truly a performance piece that I'm still making heads or tails of, but he was good.

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Poem of the World

I suck at reading calendars. The first Monday for "Sewing 101" isn't the 8th...as that's a Tuesday. It is the 14th. This may prove weird--maybe I should call and see if I need to pre-register, lest I be left out in the cold.

-Glenn

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Just one song. Bought The Roots How I Got Over recently, and have been vibing to the title track. Refreshing. And a bit nostalgic, if only tangentially.