By Christopher Luna
"Instead of trying to escape reality, plunge into the flesh of the world." -- Lawrence Ferlinghetti, "Poetry As Insurgent Art"
Traditionally, many poets have seen themselves as dissidents. Many American poets have written about the promise of America, and its failure to live up to this ideal. Walt Whitman wrote prophetic poems about the liberation of the individual, and unflinching descriptions of what he saw as a nurse to wounded soldiers during the Civil War.
Kenneth Patchen courageously lamented the futility and meaninglessness of armed conflict during World War II. Later, Allen Ginsberg wrote poems in favor of psychedelics, gay rights, and peace. In addition, Ginsberg and others including Ed Sanders and Denise Levertov became directly involved in the anti-Vietnam movement. Amiri Baraka has written great poems about racism and the damage caused by American capitalism.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the former poet laureate of San Francisco and founder of City Lights book store in San Francisco, encourages poets to see themselves as dissidents. In "Poetry As Insurgent Art," Ferlinghetti answers the question "What is the use of poetry?" with aphorisms intended to provoke and inspire: "If you call yourself a poet, don't just sit there. Poetry is not a sedentary occupation, not a 'take your seat' practice. Stand up and let them have it."
In other countries, poets are regarded as statesmen and spokespeople for the populace. Poets including Julie Patton have returned from their travels with tales of poetry readings attended by thousands of enthusiastic listeners. Why doesn't this happen in the United States? Why are most poetry readings attended primarily by other poets? Why is our work devalued? How did we become marginalized? Is it because the politically conscious poet's existence represents a threat to the status quo?
Anne Waldman has written about an outrider tradition in American literature, which "rides through the chaos, maintaining a stance of 'negative capability', but also does not give up that projective drive, or its original identity that demands that it intervene on the culture. This is not about being an Outsider. The Outrider might be an outlaw, but not an outsider. Rather, the outrider is a kind of shaman, the true spiritual 'insider'. The shaman travels to zones of light and shadow. The shaman travels to edges of madness and death and comes back to tell the stories." In this culture, we become outriders simply by daring to bear witness.
In the 1960s, it was said that the personal is political. If this is true, then every poem is political. Each line is poised to move someone, convince them that they are not alone, or persuade them to take action. Once one fully groks the inevitable ripple effect that one's words create, it is difficult to look at one's writing, or one's place in the community, quite the same way again. One of my favorite poems by Allen Ginsberg addresses this belief quite eloquently:
"Well, while I'm here I'll/ do the work-/and what's the work?/to ease the pain of living./Everything else, drunken/dumbshow"
Everything we engage in, from readings to workshops to encouraging emerging writers, has the potential to make a positive impact on someone else's life. Poetics can be a utilitarian, healing practice that has the potential to unlock people's hearts and minds. This makes it a crucial tool of self-liberation.
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Christopher Luna is a poet, editor, artist, teacher, and graduate of
the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Publications include Cadillac Cicatrix, eye-rhyme, Exquisite Corpse, and the @tached document. Chapbooks include tributes and ruminations, On the Beam (with David Madgalene), and Sketches for a Paranoid Picture Book on Memory. GHOST TOWN, USA, which features poems and observations of Vancouver, WA, is available through Cover to Cover Books and Angst Gallery, or from the author.
POETRY AVAILABLE ONLINE
Poem in Exquisite Corpse
Poem in For Immediate Release
Profile for Here Comes Everybody: Writers on Writing
Email: christopherjluna@gmail.com
Blog: www.christopherluna-poetry.blogspot.com
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