For the past two years I’ve considered getting a blog like this up and running for English 375: American Poetry, but it took a recent incident of racist hatred to push me to action.
I regularly teach Countee Cullen’s poem “Incident” in the section of the course titled “When Something Happens.” This year I was planning for us to read it in Week Ten, which is about two weeks from now.
But because we have experienced a similar incident here at UMass, I’m hoping we can start reading this poem, thinking about it, and writing about the issue it addresses right away.
The great poet W.H. Auden famously remarked that “poetry makes nothing happen.” The question I put before you now is: “in the face of racism, can poetry make anything happen – and if so, what?” Responses may take the form of prose or poetry – whatever feels right to you.
The Oppressionists
Art
what do the art
suppressors
care about art
they jump on bandwagons
wallow in press clips
& stink up the planet
with their
pornographic oppression
Art
what do they care about art
they go from being
contemporary baby kissers to
old time corrupt politicians
to self-appointed censorship clerks
who won’t support art
but will support war
poverty
lung cancer
racism
colonialism
& toxic sludge
that’s their morality
that’s their religious conviction
that’s their protection of the public
& contribution to family entertainment
what do they care about art
Find Your Own Voice
Find your own voice & use it
use your own voice & find it
The sounds of drizzle
on dry leaves are not
like sounds of insults
between pedestrians
Those women laughing
in the window
do not sound like
air conditioners on the brink
The river turtle
does not breathe like
a slithering boa constrictor
The roar of a bull
is not like
the cackle of a hyena
The growl of a sea-leopard
is not like the teething cry
of a baby
The slash of a barracuda
is not like
the gulp of a leaping whale
The speech of a tiger shark
is not like
the bark of an eagle-fish
The scent of a gardenia
is not like the scent of a tangerine
Find your own voice & use it
use your own voice & find it
http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/let-america-be-america-again