US Poetry in the Age of Empire, 1979–2012

198 Pages·2014·2.116 MB·English

by  Piotr K. Gwiazda (auth.)

-
Modern and Contemporary Poetry and Poetics
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US Poetry in the Age of Empire, 1979–2012
Piotr K. Gwiazda
US Poetry in the Age of

Empire, 1979–2012
Piotr K. Gwiazda
us poetry in the age of empire, 1979–2012
Copyright © Piotr K. Gwiazda, 2014.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-47085-0
All rights reserved.
First published in 2014 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-50078-9 ISBN 978-1-137-46627-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137466273
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gwiazda, Piotr K., 1973–
US Poetry in the Age of Empire, 1979–2012 / Piotr K. Gwiazda.
pages cm.—(Modern and Contemporary Poetry and Poetics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-349-50078-9
1. American poetry—20th century—History and criticism.
2. American poetry—21st century—History and criticism. 3. Politics
and literature—United States—History—20th century. 4. Politics and
literature—United States—History—21st century. I. Title.
PS310.P6G89 2014
741.59973—dc23 2014023871
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: November 2014
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents

Acknowledgments vii
Introduction Civic Poetry, 1979–2012 1
1 “Beyond My Outrage or My Admiration”: Robert Pinsky’s
An Explanation of America 33
2 “Nothing Else Left to Read”: Adrienne Rich’s “An Atlas of
the Difficult World” 53
3 “Who the Biggest Terrorist”: Amiri Baraka’s “Somebody
Blew Up America” 73
4 Ether: Juliana Spahr, Ben Lerner, Lisa Jarnot 93
5 Dreams of a Common Language: Mark Nowak,
Anne Boyer, Rodrigo Toscano 115
Coda For Whom Does One Write? 139
Notes 145
Bibliography 177
Index 189
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Acknowledgments

Many people offered valuable insights at different stages of this pro-
ject, but I am especially indebted to Seth Abramson, Joseph O.
Aimone, William Allegrezza, Robert Archambeau, Aaron Belz,
David Bergman, Mandy Bloomfield, Rachel Galvin, Frank J. Kearful, Lynn
Keller, Francesca Lisette, Robert Manaster, Philip Metres, Catherine A.
Molineux, Gregg Mosson, Christopher Nealon, Mark Nowak, Marcus Slease,
and Grzegorz Wróblewski. I thank the organizers of the conferences at which
I had the chance to present my work in progress: the NeMLA Conventions in
Boston and Pittsburgh, the Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture
since 1900, the National Poetry Foundation Conference on the poetry of
the 1970s at the University of Maine, Orono, and the Poetry and Revolution
International Conference at Birkbeck, University of London. I also thank
the editors of the journals, and the anonymous reviewers, in which early
versions of some of my chapters appeared.
I am grateful to my colleagues in the English Department at the University
of Maryland Baltimore County, especially Jessica Berman, Raphael Falco,
Michael Fallon, and Orianne Smith, as well as my students, with whom I
first read and discussed many of these poems. I am also grateful to the Dean
of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and the Provost
and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at UMBC for granting me
a research leave in 2012–2014. Thanks to the English Department and the
Office of the Dean for assistance with copyright permission costs. I fin-
ished writing US Poetry in the Age of Empire at the Humanities Center in
the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences at the University of
Pittsburgh. I thank Jonathan Arac, Director of the Center, and Sabine von
Dirke, Associate Director, for their warm welcome. I also thank other indi-
viduals who showed interest in my project during my two years in Pittsburgh:
Terrance Hayes, James F. Knapp, Charles Legere, Marcus Rediker, Gayle
viii l Acknowledgments
Rogers, Francesca Savoia, William Scott, Peter Trachtenberg, and Jennifer
Waldron. My knowledge of contemporary poetry and poetics was enriched
by conversations with members of the Bonfire Reading Series Collective.
I would like to thank Brigitte Schull at Palgrave Macmillan for her
enthusiasm about this project and Ryan Jenkins and Susan Eberhart for
their expert guidance through the production process. I appreciate gener-
ous and stimulating comments offered by the two reviewers, Brian Reed
and Leonard Schwartz. I am particularly grateful to Rachel Blau DuPlessis,
whose suggestions for revision and expansion helped me see this topic in a
new light.
Lastly, this book would not have been completed without the encourage-
ment and support of my wife Molly A. Warsh.
Some portions of this book have previously appeared, in different form,
in other publications.
Chapter 1 appeared as “‘Beyond My Outrage or My Admiration’:
Postnational Critique in Robert Pinsky’s An Explanation of America”
in College Literature 35.2 (Spring 2008): 86–103. © College Literature
Publications.
Chapter 2 appeared as “‘Nothing Else Left to Read’: Poetry and Audience
in Adrienne Rich’s ‘An Atlas of the Difficult World’” in Journal of Modern
Literature 28.2 (Winter 2005): 165–88. © Indiana University Press.
Chapter 3 appeared as “The Aesthetics of Politics/The Politics of
Aesthetics: Amiri Baraka’s ‘Somebody Blew Up America’” in Contemporary
Literature 45.3 (Fall 2004): 460–85. © 2004 by the Board of Regents of the
University of Wisconsin System. Reproduced courtesy of the University of
Wisconsin Press.
In addition, I gratefully acknowledge permission to reprint longer
excerpts from the following:
Somebody Blew Up America and Other Poems by Amiri Baraka (House
of Nehesi Publishers, 2003). Reprinted by permission of Chris Calhoun
Agency © Amiri Baraka.
My Common Heart by Anne Boyer (Spooky Girlfriend Press, 2011).
Reprinted by permission of the author.
Iliad XXII by Lisa Jarnot (Atticus/Finch Chapbooks, 2006). Reprinted
by permission of the author.
An Explanation of America by Robert Pinsky © 1979 Princeton University
Press. Reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press.
Deck of Deeds by Rodrigo Toscano (Counterpath, 2012). Reprinted by
permission of Counterpath.
IntroductIon

civic Poetry, 1979–2012
In this book, I consider poems published in the United States since 1979
that directly engage with national and global politics. I show that over
the past 35 years some of America’s leading poets became discerning
witnesses of their country’s transformation from self-appointed defender of
freedom and democracy to powerful if uncertain keeper of the “new world
order.” In ways that are artistically remarkable and intellectually probing,
these poets registered signs of violent resistance to America’s domination,
including the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and the subsequent
US wars with Afghanistan and Iraq. They also took part in public debates
concerning the meaning of nation, state, and empire following the unprec-
edented expansion of free markets and communication technologies.
My examples include three poems that illustrate the experience of being
American at this juncture in global history: Robert Pinsky’s An Explanation
of America (1979), Adrienne Rich’s “An Atlas of the Difficult World” (1991),
and Amiri Baraka’s “Somebody Blew Up America” (2001). In the second
half of my book, I discuss Juliana Spahr’s This Connection of Everyone with
Lungs (2005), Ben Lerner’s Angle of Yaw (2006), Lisa Jarnot’s Iliad XXII
(2006), Mark Nowak’s Coal Mountain Elementary (2009), Anne Boyer’s My
Common Heart (2011), and Rodrigo Toscano’s Deck of Deeds (2012). As I
demonstrate, these younger poets also find compelling ways to reinvigorate
the tradition of public-oriented poetry in English.
My argument is that in the era of globalized economy, culture, and
increasingly politics, US poets take it upon themselves to perform the role
of public intellectuals.1 In doing so, they raise important questions about
poetry and its social value. Throughout my study, I trace the extent to which
poetry, as a language-based art form and an affect-producing tool, imparts
P. K. Gwiazda, US Poetry in the Age of Empire, 1979–2012
© Piotr K. Gwiazda 2014