Gendering Poetry

This weekend I read a review of Gendering Poetry: Contemporary Women and Men Poets, Vicki Bertram, Pandora Press - 2004 p. 256. The review, written by Renuka Rajaratnam, quotes the poet Elizabeth Bishop, "art is art and to separate it into two sexes is to emphasize values in them that are not art." The reviewer, in pointing to Bishop's quote seeks to establish this view as a traditional benchmark from which to start and suggests that Bertram with this book is challenging this assessment. Rajaratnam presents the potential for invention and interpretation as a point of Bertram's argument against such traditional view.

This seems fair enough to me as I fail to see how a person, writer or reader, can implicitly divorce themselves from life experiences, long held views and gender influences when it comes to poetry. You simply are going to bring these things with you to some degree and impact poetry with it both on the creation side and the consumer side, even if it is unintentional.

The review presents Vicki Bertram's work as a responsible look at gender studies and an attempt to put the issue on the map of mainstream criticisms. Of course, I would like to read this work first hand in order to adequately form my own assessment of her contribution to such.

In the grand scheme of things, I believe this is an element of poetics worthy of debate. What happens beyond that discourse becomes a whole different animal. I am always fearful that the outcome of such dialogue can lead to categorizations within poetry that can detract from the art itself. That may well have been what Elizabeth Bishop had in mind.

Still, there seems to be some benefit to the acknowledgment - (if only a personal one for each of us) that we bring a part of ourselves to each poem that no one else carries with them. This is true of both the poem's author and reader.

literary review

Tiananmen Then & Now

Today marks the sixteen year anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre in which pro-democracy students who assembled peacefully, were met by troops and tanks that opened fire on them in the square at Tiananmen.

While the past 16 years have seen many cultural changes in China, one thing remains unchanged. The present Chinese government is still entrenched in a belief that what happened on June 4, 1989 at Tiananmen was necessary and not only maintains an unapologetic stance, continues a paranoia about the flow if information that might open up any dissenting view.

The rest of the world has enough information about the actions in Tiananmen that history will not allow it to be defined in such narrow terms as the Chinese governments presently clings to. While the government remains hopelessly committed to a policy of information containment as a way to deal with this sad piece of Chinese history, the truth and an internet age make shielding from such information from society almost an impossible task. Still, the fear that dictated such actions 16 years ago continues to fuel government actions. The most recent evidence of this is the detention of a journalist named Ching Cheong.

On April 22 of this year, Ching Cheong, a Chinese nationalist, left his residence in Hong Kong to travel across the boarder to the mainland to meet with a man named Zong Fengmin only 45 minutes way. He hoped to return with an unpublished manuscript titled "Conversations with Zhao Ziyang Under House Arrest" The work was that of Zong Fengmin, a retired Chinese official.

While the contents of the this conversation with Zhao (who died this January) are unknown, a central point of a recently published memoir of Zhao by Zong stresses that the demands by the students for greater openness and democracy was also shared by a great many mid-level and higher ranking party members in Beijing as well.

Ching Cheong however, has not returned from his 45 minute journey, but is being held on the mainland and this week was charged with espionage. There has been no evidence offered by officials to substantiate these charges. He has not been allowed contact with family, visitors, legal council or the Straits Times of Singapore, for whom he writes. This has prompted nearly every newspaper and press freedom group in Asia to call for his release.

Sources:

Reporters without boarders

NY Times - Thousands at Hong Kong Vigil for Tiananmen Anniversary

Singapore journalists petition Chinese embassy on detained correspondent

Much earlier this year I wrote a poem about the death of Zhao in the persona of Tiananmen Mother. An audio of the poem remains on the sidebar. I am posting the complete text here below on the anniversary of the massacre. I believe given the existing situation in China,the threat that exists at the hands of governments around the world to suppress the flow of information, literature, and ideas - including the United States, who currently is challenging some of our most basic civil liberties in the name of Homeland Security - by way of intrusive componnets of the Patriots Act... it is a good time to remember that the price people sometimes pay for those liberties is easily taken for granted.

~

Tiananmen Mother
for Zhao Ziyang

The Beijing breeze whispers
mournful strophes.
Tears like the mountain rains
follow slopes

to tributaries until they become one
with the rippling waters of the Yangtze.

I am a Tiananmen mother.
My eyes have swelled
with this sadness before.
The wetness follows a path
well rehearsed.

My nights are immense.
I am but a lone bare branch
in a cold, dark world.

They replicate
that June night
etched in my soul
over and over.

My son stood
in the Square
armed only
with a vision
and they came-
The People's Army.

My son stood
in Tiananmen Square,
amid a sea of other
sons an daughters
and they came-

armored tanks
clanking along the streets into Tiananmen
driven by fear, ordered by paranoia.

Our sons and daughters
toppled to the earth
at their hands.
Crimson crawling into every crevice
Of these ancient Chinese streets
A stain still upon us today.

I cannot count the nights
I've wept for my son since.
Today, I weep for another.

There is no official news
but the Beijing breeze whispers again.
This time for the death of the old man.
There are guards of fear
stationed outside my door.
The lump in my throat is big,
I cannot begin to swallow,
that is how I know the truth.

Guilt always gnawing at my heart.
I could not help my son that June night.
Again as I am helpless.

I want to pay my respects
to the old man who stood up
for my son and others
massacred in Tiananmen,
but the thugs watch
my every move.

I am a Tiananmen mother.
It is my duty to weep
for the lost ones.

© 2005 Michael A. Wells

Poetry for the People!

And for the Minnesota Governor too! Maybe he'll get the hang of it.


Poetry for the People!

Brookcrossing.com Found by Harper's Index

Harper's Index has found Bookcrossing.com

The June 2005 Issue features such facts as this:

"Number of books registered at BookCrossing.com, so the books can be left in public places and found by others: 1,935,00"

WhichMajor Romantic Poet Would You Be?

You're John Keats! You were born poor, trained to
be a doctor, and then decided you wanted to be
a poet. You threw yourself into poetry with
great dedication. You're very nice and
extremely dedicated to your art. You write
great letters and sexy poetry. It's amazing
how much you got done in your short lifetime.

Which Major Romantic Poet Would You Be (if You Were a Major Romantic Poet)?
brought to you by Quizilla

Graceful Insanity | A History of McClean-

sadi ranson-polizzotti wrote a review of this book about the people treated there over the years... some pretty interesting names. Of course I was aware of both Plath and Sexton. In the back of my mind I was thinking that this too was where Lowell had been treated a time or two. This review confirms that fact.

The surprise to me was James Taylor. I recall the story of his song "Fire and Rain" being written about a young woman he fell in love with at a Psych facility.... I never knew if the story was true or folk lore, but it seemed plausible. Learning that McLean was indeed the site of a hospital stay for him certainly makes the story that much more interesting.

I suppose I will need to add Gracefully Insane by Alex Beam to my growing read list.

Sit on your toadstool, say grace, eat your blueberry muffin, and just say "no" to poetry.

As the Minnesota State Legislature ended its regular session, it passed a bill to create a position of state poet laureate. The House voted in favor of the measure 126 to 6 and the Senate did likewise by a 52 to 8 to vote.

Minnesota has a state muffin - the blueberry muffin. It has a state photograph, titled "Grace" and, Oh my God!!! a state mushroom! Yep, it has an official toadstool!

Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty, however, said no to the poet laureate idea. If signed into law, the bill would have allowed him to appoint a poet laureate after receiving recommendations from the nonprofit Minnesota Humanities Commission. Many thought the timing was perfect to start such a endeavor, as the state will be celebrating it's sesquicentennial in 2008 and a laureate would have been called on to provide verse for ceremonies and celebrations thoughout the state. Additionally, no state funds would have gone with the job.

Pawlenty suggested that the measure could lead to "requests for a state mime, interpretive dancer or potter." In this case a mime for a Governor wouldn't be such a bad idea.

According to the Library of Congress, some 34 states have such a position. Several are presently vacant however.



Unrelated - but worth thinking about:

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it. ~James Bryce