The Beat Going On
REALLY having fun teaching my Queer American Poetries class. Last night was the second class. Small: Only three folks. But they are really engaged and bright and make the discussion exciting and enlightening. Last night I wrapped up the section of "Fore-Runners" (snagged a little long on my favorite: Gertrude Stein) and then I introduced the next section "The Engaged Witness".
The poets we will discuss in this frame are Allen Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, June Jordan, and Eileen Myles.
Some of the introductory questions are
* Does a political poetry require a tightly defined identity/voice/community from which to speak, by which to be recognized? If so, how are these definitions maintained and at what cost?
* In this kind of poetry, does recognition of difference become important? What care should be taken when we group poets according to sexuality primarily -- possibly eliding gender, race, ethnicity, class, etc.?
* Does lesbian poetry actualize some aspects of Whitman's social vision by fusing private and public, personal and political?
* In terms of publishing economics and readerships, does this poetry run the risk of ghettoization? If so, what can be done to counter the isolation that goes along with such?
* Does the voice of the socio-political poet carry some vestige of religious language? (For example, words like "prophet", "fervor" or "zeal", "conversion", and "witness" ... .) What are the ultimate effects of such a voice if it is transfered to what is commonly considered a secular project?
This class has really given me the teaching bug again. Can hardly wait to teach the next class.
The poets we will discuss in this frame are Allen Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, June Jordan, and Eileen Myles.
Some of the introductory questions are
* Does a political poetry require a tightly defined identity/voice/community from which to speak, by which to be recognized? If so, how are these definitions maintained and at what cost?
* In this kind of poetry, does recognition of difference become important? What care should be taken when we group poets according to sexuality primarily -- possibly eliding gender, race, ethnicity, class, etc.?
* Does lesbian poetry actualize some aspects of Whitman's social vision by fusing private and public, personal and political?
* In terms of publishing economics and readerships, does this poetry run the risk of ghettoization? If so, what can be done to counter the isolation that goes along with such?
* Does the voice of the socio-political poet carry some vestige of religious language? (For example, words like "prophet", "fervor" or "zeal", "conversion", and "witness" ... .) What are the ultimate effects of such a voice if it is transfered to what is commonly considered a secular project?
This class has really given me the teaching bug again. Can hardly wait to teach the next class.