Timothy Yu’s introduction discusses the complexities of defining our particular era of contemporary American poetry, acknowledging the difficulty of describing something that has not yet finished. He sees the study of contemporary poetry as an opportunity, where critics can “reevaluate, rewrite, and revise… frameworks that often highlighted certain developments in poetry (and history) at the expense of others” (Yu 1). Yu defines our current definition of “contemporary” and argues it is ineffective to have this word associated with poetry that was written over 80 years ago. I found it interesting how he defined the poets most usually associated with this era as different sides of binaries – it is true that what we’ve learned about most schools of poetry have been from dissenters or those going against something previously accepted. That’s why they’re noteworthy, after all. He notes how this same idea has developed into a “mainstream” vs. “experimental” differentiation, less so about taking sides but recognizing different directions writers can take.
Yu points out the overall whiteness of the canons of contemporary American poetry, where white male writers have been historically the center of the conversation and where African-American writers, when they are actually considered, have been grouped into their own categories on the outskirts. Yu does agree to there being better recognition in the last 30 or so years, where BIPOC and queer voices are celebrated and given more room to be heard. This is in part due to the sheer volume of writing available from people of so many backgrounds. But for him, what defines twenty-first century American poetry “…is that such critical conversations about race and poetry have increasingly not been seen as “only” the province of writers of color but have shaped conversations about all American poetry – including white poets” (Yu 4). He gives several examples of different writers and events that can be considered poetic or significant in the 21st century, but what I found most impactful were his discussions about the current receptions of poetry and how this will impact the future of poetry’s perceptions and stylistic representations. What Yu describes as the “disruption” of American poetry by the 21st century is a positive outlook on what is changing and what is necessary to be changed.
Dorothy Wang’s article on “The Future of Poetry Studies” says a lot of the same things Yu’s does, which is natural considering her article was included in a book he edited and wrote an introduction to. She provides examples of certain aspects of American poetry, noting some of the larger schools and eras that were indicative of what has been known as contemporary: language poets, modern and postmodern, conceptual, etc. Wang argues that “we have been told forever and ever that form and content are not separable”, but points to how minority writers are labeled as an exception, their writing categorized as “identity politics”, autobiographical writing”, or “expressivity” (Wang 221). This acknowledgement was quite eye-opening, because though we live in a more modern world with more voices being celebrated, her point is unfortunately still true today. I realized how often people seem to categorize people of color’s works as being only about their race, instead of being able to be celebrated as literature regardless of who they are and where they come from. This distinction is important and I think Wang did a good job of using recent examples from literary journals that either don’t include diverse voices, or when they do, don’t provide the proper acknowledgement or context for the writer and their work. It is so important to continue to ask those questions “Who is the our here?” and “Who is the we?”, and Wang calls to action a need for actually engaging with the topics of race and poetics, and not just doing so performatively (Wang 222).
Ocean Vuong’s “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” is a poem I’d heard of many times but never read. I had read Vuong’s other work here and there and enjoyed it, and though I can see why this poem particularly is popular, it doesn’t have the same effect for me as the other poetry this week. Though it is talking about several ideas (sex, relationships, mortality, love), I found some of the sections to be very vivid, such as the imagery of “taking a chainsaw to the kitchen table” and futility of trying to get clean, “In the shower, sweating under cold water, I scrubbed & scrubbed”. Other parts I found less concrete and harder to read in the greater context of the poem, such as “Say amen. Say amend. /Say yes. Say yes / anyway.” and “ Say surrender. Say alabaster.Switchblade./ Honeysuckle. Goldenrod. Say autumn.”. I believe this is meant to be abstract, but I found it distracting that the poem went back and forth between concrete sentences and ideas and then switched to a more conventional poetry structure that had more uncertain themes.
One poem I really enjoyed this week was “I’m not a religious person but” by Chen Chen. The explorations of tension between faith and religion, beliefs, and the modern world were an interesting look into Chen’s psyche and personal uncertainties. I particularly liked the use of imagery, and found it to be fun and engaging yet commenting on some heavy ideas, such as this part where the speaker is admitting they’re speaking to God yet fighting with the idea that they may believe in and be able to speak to God, or even have some sort of positive relationship when they insist most of the poem they don’t believe in them.
I tried to confuse God by saying I am
a made-up dinosaur & a real dinosaur & who knows maybe
I love you, but then God ended up relating to me. God said I am
a good dinosaur but also sort of evil & sometimes loving no one.
Chen’s speaker talks of playing games with God and then asking the hard hitting existential questions about death and the afterlife. After this, the speaker doesn’t hear from God or the angel in the story again, and leaves a sense of abandonment alongside the humor of the poem. I think I will come back to this poem at some point, because it is loaded with a good tension of humor and really deep thoughts that most people deal with as they go through life and toy with humanity. Maybe it will continue to speak to me!
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