NOTEBOOKS ON POETRY AND POLITICS ——— ———j 3 W-W-Norton & Company Adrienne NEW YORK * LonDo teh | | RieCrust acknowledgment made fe pesmi 4 quote fm the wots of Gorn olen, Jautine mon Bey ad Nery Clove te INSIGHT Soong ner Ft Co a Fay Cole Menem Porton of ths bok Gs appeared in The Anson Pry Revs Hany Mind Rese The Key Rea Pose sd PEA Tera be thle to pst pe of he Gil dem the Ga Eee oe ‘Unvertsyf Suthern Caforn fre Helfer? Woeshap it ‘Misou Monin fo be Town Wee Werkshop. the tot Boa ‘Zoe Lect for Ps Hous New York, ont the Ck Lect ‘Thy Coleg, Cob, Ensen orb © 03, 199 by bin ich “angie meted Pema ed Sc of Ane ‘nce dhs age anne leiy asco ale copyright oso, Pigs 29308 conse an exten o the coppepage, Fire pubhed aa Nvtonppebuk 9 Composition ad manutcing by Te Hadden Crates, Ine ‘Bool dep by Aron Kens Stencil book ora by Wir Mion Diggin, Liar of Congres Caloning in Paton Dat Rich Adsieone Cece, ‘Whats oun dete ntbooks on poy nd poles "Adsene Roch? ISBN 0895312464 "Rich Adsienne Cecle—Nowbook sehbook ce ‘Sots aden Poet Tie W.W Norton & Compa ne 0 Filth Avenue New or VY 1080 ‘WW Nowton& Company Lid, Cute Howe 7/76 Wes Sree, Tondo Wit 5Q°r 1214s67890 Contents Jncob andthe angel (2003) Preface (1952) 1 ‘Woman and bird Mics fom the si HE "What would we create?" I eset Aare V. Those ewo shelves, down thre” Vi. Asifyour life depended on VIL. The space fo poetry Vl How does 3 poet pot bread on the table? 1X The morale X The hermit cream XL Ales in history Xl, Someone is writing» poem 4 3 29 a 38 a 5s 2 Bexu, xv. xv. XV. xvi xvi xix xx Xx. 20a, xxv sow, 21 XXVIL xxv, 2xIK, Beginners or ‘The real noc the eslendar, twenty firs century 102 “A clearing in the imagination” 07 ‘What san American hie? re “Moment of proot™ 4 “History sp for no one” bs ‘The uansgrettor mother 4s ‘A comumutal poetry 164 ‘The distance between language and violence 188 Nor how to write poetry but wherefore 190 "Rorted anes” ‘97 A poets edication 206 “To invene what we desi 24 Format and oom 27 ‘Touts and promised lands 28 Wha as ‘Sic meitasons i place ofa lecture asi Notes 25 ‘Acknowledgments 27 Permisions Acknowledgments 299 Index ‘ 307 eee to ge the new fom poems yet men die miterbly every day for tk of wha i found there — Wil Carr Wiliams, “AsphodelThat Greeny Fower™thac rc charge, for yourself and others, evntegmgrare od fon a page something writen down that" ay XXV [Bintan tea mem of asia t —That this in itself can be an activity of | Temnetiox To invent ; Tht o cl, gg, ce can what we desire him pevonnezray enon oc, me ‘ational, geographic tracts, poetry lifis its Jou, fend ad ns you inthe That in all ages and cultures, poes have been lost before they COU! be sary ae you aed found and cucuaged lst in elid Myce ee birth, owt grinding tol, in masacte, rem fat me bow pogroms, genocides lst to hated ofthe “* MP ene What dos «pot need ohn? ressges they bore, that could not be received, —That pocty can occur, not just as ag fierce, precarious charge in the imagins- That to mistake, to misprze, your Yin, or an almost physical wave of desire, Nesounee we ih ‘own life and is landscapes, to imagine ‘bx as something writen down, that ff hom i te that poetry belongs by right co others remains, so reudles of citcumsance sesh (of another culture, gender, cas, cen yor can turn back to that Geree charge, tury) and not to you, means fling if ye ut we a that desire, ‘not into slenee—into language others erm wh we found in serge with their own condi- That you youre sheagh sombi- tions. Then you become 4 mouthpiece faions and permutations of the Ian Naxos ute’ for the lives of others, you inhabit their rages you already know, can re-ceeate por fas hero rhythms, dir vocabularies, you love et6 1 What fs Found There tek fy own dee inn apd Tit he point om Saul po Soc eae eae teow anon ees ee thor: ay XXVI fc eee ones aoe ' barra opener ‘That to tack your own dese, in your Format and form ov ngage, nt an lated a You yourself are marked by family, gender, if ae, lmaape, the sage £0 Make 2 page a living othe sence oftichasrugle, fees ‘The rich and the poor are equally — %" Jam Jonte). matted. Pocey ir nove fe of thee matking even when i appeas ob ook im tees Long befote the invention af the “sound byte” che anarchist poet esayist and activist Poul Goodman described the effects . of wat he called “format” on public language Format. tte tape and sizeof «book as determine’ by the mumber of tines the orignal sheet has been folded to form he leaves. he genera physical appearance of «book, ‘mapatine or newpaper, sacha the type fice, ining, ial fey of paper margins, 3. te organization, plan, sje foe of something: They tlre ho eit alr frat "Th rat of th he lle fr pie and corel 8 4 Computer Tl he orgaszation fesposion of ymbols tm « mmgrese ape, prch cad, oF the ke, in accordance LL234 | Whae 1 Found There bberween its rots, the boner of the ancestors, and its bent beyond the found ows the Ritu, Raya Dunayevkaya wrote of revoltion that while “great divides in epochs, i cognition, in peony, are crucial” we need to understand the moment ofdxconinity the break in the patern-—iself a part of a continuing, fr it to become + ‘uring poine iv human history. Poetry wrenches around our ideas about our lives 3 it grows slongside other kinds of human endeavor. But tao recalls us {o ourelvesto memory sociation, forgotten forbidden languages, Poetry will not Bly across dhe sea, agus the soem, to any “new wore” any "promised lin” and then fold es ings and sing. Poetry is nota resting onthe given, bata questing toward what mighe otherwise be 1 wil always pica quel with the Found place, he efige, the sanctuary, the revolution thats lor~ Jing momencum. Even though the poet, human being with ‘many anxious fas, might want just to ret acclimate, adjust, become marurlzed, ean to write in 3 new landcape, 4 new languoge Poetry wil go on arsing the poe wi and unless, ie driven avy, When here no hits Shee eno mer ind mor oem ‘ae owe bors, ‘per whe Inn Back, Tred inthe ane ~Midhe SHarpe “Song Wane: Wine" ‘The saoomy of theron he empie of snes ‘within he epi, both nce in hei Base premise conep of perp wate. ithe tory af be sen of wae hat best ot other oti» But abd ad under and hoe nthe ey te dere eke om rice fd the ed ke he ld deserter een hana, the eninge of mach work efi ato to acd make Rowe This iery ihe Hoy tai Rake, The Li of Py ‘We mo comely come oun dec ter oatang te eres tton ht ot de Imp sed so many four lies pane ntheferefont of our move toward cag, the on poor 0 fine poly wad re Aare Lone "Poor te Nor 3 Lary “ote reolionry i be ng fo know whe swe ee om, tows wht rr a lp 10 our he et of what oor four ego, jurprnpler ao leive bind wht no longe Ines Herne, “An Open Leer to Cheam Labor Day wes, 192. 167,000 jobs los inthe United States inthe month of August Aa electoral campaign is being waged bberwees ewenteth-century politicians, while the entree century sort pushing the hood back fom her face and wen ing t0 show herself an eyebrow, a cheeKbone, the line of mouth ot of shadow, “The counery uniqueness no Tonge reside i propery. ‘Among the cvzed [se] mane ofthe word eis in the ‘exraordinariy ical relons between the ce and certin ‘tine group, inthe extent and range of the masons impor- ered clases inthe manfeyarchae guy of ts celia Susie system, in the inadequacy of spi elt and med ow and dererted slam aes of dovene of cies where pubic ‘atry is unknown, the Bzaze condition at ext in 190 say ofthe mation’ elementary and secondly schoo, dat some pretend wil be quickly remedied by something called “pation... (Fhe prison popation of his couny is grater than dat of any eter citzed democracy in the edd... [Te US criminal aw sytem i igac, eo znd tbe that by jn and lawyers troagiou the woe wep Lay “The eatin noe suddenly ave becae of fry dee som in Los Angeles} in 1992 toga: the fve-hundredth year of white presence in the ‘Americas, There ae commemorative tampr,sctlanly con ferences, enactments, homages to the invaders, replicas of ‘Columbus’ ships, oficial theatrics. An enormous: gras-r00% ountermovement has risen in tesitance to there official celebrations. Ie wies demonstrations, murals, thawee, poetry readings, history storytelling, banners, postcards, music, and ances i publishes collections of essays and poets: it speaks ta whomever wil lite, but che primary voices ae those af ‘he politcal, artistic, and inellecral movement of American Indians, Metoamerians, mestizos and mestis,Chicana/os, Mexicana/os, Puerto Riguenos, Puerto Riqueias, move- ‘ments building since the 19605, tough all the years when the Left war being pronounced defunct. This indigenous peo ples response ro the Quincentennia isan educational move ment, 2 movement for cultural self definition end for the Facute. And its a movement of peoples who, despite wars of ‘exermination, endvements the the of chei ands, children, and culate, have never cated to recognize poety 283 form of power. ‘The Mexican poet Octavio Par read the history of poetry in che modern age 3$"nothing but the history of i relations {0 [the] myth” of Revolution—revolution thingified with ‘that capital R that usually marks an icon tobe shot down. The Revolution of abilute, monolithic State power is dead now, he says, with the “death” of Communism and socialism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The statues of Lenin238 | Whar ls Found There thse indeed been pulled down (and, at one unreconstucted ‘Marni sid to1me recently, even Lea would Have been la ‘ofthat; the press has reported former ident writers sy ing they no longer know what o wee about. Pz believes that che long association of poetry with revolution (and now 1 am using the sual that sllows for many sevolions, pat allel and converging, and for continuing revolution) is at an fend. He calls on poetry a the “Other Voice” that speaks of ‘what neither the capitalism now called “marke economy” ror the state capitalism known as Coramuni can adders (Paz does acknowledge thatthe questions asked by Marx are sill unanswered, that the "market economy” cannot answer chem, must self undergo change or sl-destruet) He alo states that “for che fist time since the Romantic era, no Poetic movement of major scape his appeated in thirty yeas” thus betraying a banal jgnoranee of the women’ and fuliyenous and mesisi/0 poery movements In all the ‘Americas, the Caribbean, the Pacific blands, New Zealand, Australia, not co mention Europe and Afric. This ignorance, though banal, is a profound disadvantage for someone eying tw pronounce on the present and faturereltionship of poetry and revolution Pocery and revolution: poems and changes of consciousness, poems and actions. Invuile, wnguantiiale exchanges of energy: On 2 wall, in an exhibit of paintings (New World Farrow") by Michele Gibbs, I read evo lines fom the Irish poet Seamus Heaney What looks the songest has ative seems “The fre es wth what afemed om under, wher | a9 In Heaney original poem, dhese lines ate italicized: chey appese asthe sgn ofa revolutionary hope in which his gen- crauon has been disappointed The poem scognize 3 new gen- eration rejecting the pasivgy of dsllesionment and ends with 2 diferent hope to sow there sone among ut who never sere ‘fom all i inns fl Ri wa righ ction hove boat wll ft when the cloudbur hppens Hemey's poem belong, in is images, to Ireland and the long, tortuous path of Irish revolutionary pois. It abo vices + more general pasve desire fr chang, easly resigned 9 what isthe liberals dead end. The coupler fom Heaney’ text is, however, eansformed in radical juxtaposition with Gibbet pinings. The iambic pentameter of Shakespeare or Mion ot Yeats is here broken up ito shore phrases, iseribed in Blood- red ink, and these Ish words ang nan Aftican-Caribbean system of imager—specically a painting ented Homeoning Jor Mandela a one elle Phoons Rising, the ler an Afican ‘woman reborn out ofa shell or bow! of ames. And they stand along with words from Henry Dumas, Margaret Walker, Aime (Césire. Whatever irony Heaney means is to hear in these lines 15 desioniad, reamed to 4 Living principle, in Gibbs visual meditations on history: more than hope or fits a calling- into-being [As poetry in that context of words and images the lines are ‘eansmuted. Perhaps chey spur me on, by and dough the light and shadows ofthe painting to move more suey in my con tests withthe old ing powers within and ouside myself Perhaps they have been scribbled into the notebook of 3- ‘dene who may or may not ever ead the whole poem but who ‘will always associate them with those images Judging fom thewhole ofthe poem don't think Heaney would fel misappro printed, ‘Ave been writing this book, poems and he words of poets have owed into my hands, onto my table, As on, the work of seatching becomes 3 magnetic Feld toward which ke ion Glings, needed resources At the worst cme in this continents history, when indeed the old dying frees seem to have pitched ta imo an iceversible ieremediable diaster spin—ait water, cath, and fie hovribly contaminated, the blood pulse in che embryo aleeady marked for sickness, ewnge of public verbiage choking the inlets ofthe mind—an abundance of revolutionary aati silemesging. ere 00 Today is all 1 have 10 gle you My sores of honey and crm tnd fh water and even san oe empty Hee With this you can hold the cys ‘every comer ander your Sngeosi ound int the oes of your shoe ing the pales of your kings agile chambers ‘ean fm your ey eg the back ‘of your hand Here soot gate ofthe iy of re and i web ‘of consequences bat spread burned dy ovr th rier ied the ace ac heads ofthe cormorants they pangs to eat Ichss seed between prverents tnd the clothes of howe who sleep om them Teenie othe low intgrgy of frst of the eats buried back veins Whee @? Vee of tenements of pit sale in dams pins sh cel of posited tee ofthe bodies of thse who would ot obey ‘or who lepton park ences unkeeding [eis memory smearing the smcets to mac or shared stenon ech mote 4 crppled survivor voces tuning ‘ur eyes and sat ying nd way in “to the Cy of ee” A revolutionary poem will not tel you who ot when to ill, ‘what and when > burn, of even how to theorize. fe reminds you (or you have know, somehow al slong, maybe lst ack) ‘where and when and hove you are living and might lve—ies wick of deste 1 nay do ie wor nthe Inga and image of dreams, Its, love letes, prion letters, chan, lm jomp cut, meditations res of pain, documentary fragment, bie, late-night long-distance cll I i noe programmatic searches for words amid the jamming of unfes,Gee-mtket idiom, for images that wil brn true ouside the emotional theme packs. ‘A revolutionary poem is writen out of one individuals con- ‘onttion with her/his own longings (inchading al that s/he ie expected to deny) in the belie the te resders or eaters Gin that ld unending sense ofthe peopl) deserve an at as comple, 5 ‘open to consadictions 3 themacle, ‘Any traly revolutionary ar is an alchemy through which wast, greed, brutality frozen indfeence, “blind sorrow” and anger ae tramimuted into some drenching recognition ofthe War Pde possible. War j-2—the St revolutionary ‘question, the queiion the dying forces dont know how to ak“The theme of evolsonsy art may of uecesty be prevaing condone thea sig oher ways and meas In depict. tng Ines ovdianly downpresed, shreded, ese, chs at foveal dough fre aenton thes innate ad later vialiy ed beauty In pormying sented and exploited labor with acre steady concern for the ces ad Bod ofthe bores, ital to mind that work ta human Bling. that ination does nor have to be inseparable companion In Sigutng the hte, whether Indians or aves migrants or women, tcl tp a ndcape where all ight be fe to eel unmeleed fn the ferocious compotion of work by Sue Coe inthe aunt- ing mediate sakes of Michele Gibbs wo on pred Gi tree bar inthe onanc histori son of + eamas by Jac Lawrence, the scitetosone of humanity in works by Nancy Spero and Leon Go here thank to beuty of form and lor, anarchic pecon of fr nd spcer—a conjuring of posible space where human ratonships become 25 comple- Irena and unenorced hein, color rms ofthe pic= tures themulven Reolusonary art dwells, by is natore on edges “This sis power: he tension Bemween nec nd meas, between the dr and what canbe. Edge Beroen rin and cel bration, Naming and mourning damage eeping pain vor! so it cannot become normalized and aceepeble Ye hough that Baring gre in a poet which ficken over words and imagen tough the energy of dese, summoning a iferent reli ‘Kamau Brathwaite on the assination of Walter Redney. CGoyanee schol, activi, and leader: ‘to be Blown ito fagments your Bosh ike the inland that you loved ke th seawall da you wisbed rhea Wher yo aa einging a rights juice tothe brothers 1 eres coma masamai to the ster whiting thei e/2om ‘hae pandee nanny’ Moret be lsened ko wih all heir ancient Biches of espe sa ehey ate the tps up the poor ofthe ch ‘p Bom the Door of dhe hile un dey become the rae ofthe mation har fers wold alt ste into wat they ow se ads not oi well torch ight of mackanaie thor who have all hte generis ‘on ut bate tothe bone tpawing our mck to their one rice x pie so achman &rat/chetsquene ‘how Bead i ard 0 bay how re sae than dhe muddy water where ies how bony tby belles grow doomisden dangon pounded down te groaning in thir hanger row war voiced fed eyed in he anger. to be Blown into figment your death {eth ands eae you loved he the seavalthat you withed beat bringing egal rights & utc othe bredeen that eden above al eders woud be ke the sn.244 | What 1 Found There over th plover the sy morte de enn over himanro anywhere or word where tae ove re the hy se oe Ivete pet mans pest sags owas sengen where K my sme dy end tae tke pow on the nego ring ke mira orden ‘ore tht lonely eng engine slowly osing us sound but el ike your writ wih ek af blood sro is sets of bone {ot we ike he fog matches the court tps of eal the saden sodas night journey up the the pomeroon holed up in 2 ferent safe hoe every morning & ey ing to gus from the heat ofthe hand shake ifthe saner was ranger or cobra or end 1 the argent ste ofthe Ks lade ghitering is grt down the tees bend inthe breeze king & leaning olive withthe sell of um om the sls beat signe ah on te amide of your Enger ‘as foteps nto your hows hing any # vee & ove & ovr an ith your of raging patience with your ack Tash of it howph he edges must have been cing with pain tt dhe certain leer & ener & clearer aga Wher i? | 24s hat ei too simple to he/t0 hace otc remeber hac emt not become an ey slogan ote too torn too defsced too devaled down in eederpton market hat when men puher gover other manner they shoal be hone ina weld of hornets hat Heed into tie end ke Hee ‘corrptio that cockoaches ikea dey Meche sn hat pice shouldbe ike understanding of the Boor boards of your howe sept len ech morning, ull by hand thas know the wind & tide lngage om the loops within dhe ides of the Boker to the ray SninfEnces of your yd 4 tat cach man on his cramped rele ln ‘on backaamn of hi an n ret clearing by he rosea rer where bebe sugges agit sis ground (aks up ed was in the pomer& the egg of his soe om the cpped beamed pacha of i vison to the carn impen knowlege 0 his (hss de message tat de deeadeen wil delve |poundsion ofthe soul with dei of mata eed246 | Whae le Found There hac when poke dhe world was tron his Breeze since twas natal in Uke the water. dhe way he ened ke the way be wade 3 dem itl brothers who ad grace for being ee things & caf of 10 cael of 100 he war ext down platon cane because ded gow & growing/ green cause he wa that slender red & there wete machetes enough to hasten bi 9 Heed, he wa Blown down ‘because orm man to men trewnt wracking Ou he weed that kl our yampe vine 10 the bomb fagmentng inland lke the land Ys loved Ieting bck dees in ‘bur tere are sears hat bar hat made do nt know sof lamonds bhi the Blows te bis that wackrs cond nt find tht bombers could not S60 that scavenger will ever hide way ‘he cream Needs ear georgttown prison widow rushes oa & hal er cilen ee Wer ip 1 307 Bt the imagining ofa diferent reality requires tling and retelling the tele true sory: a poetry that narrates and wit nese. Muskogee Creek Joy Haj implants ths he le and tn the pls she provides for her poem: PRESENT HERE AND IN TILE OAPPLED STARS (FOR WE WE HAY ALL LE) Beneuth sky bred with mist and wind Tam amazed aL watch the vot heads of routes erpt om the if arth ser dying for sex08, 2 have watcha my own dark ead appear ech morning afer entering the next word ‘come back otis one, he ry In nacre wold wo andersand the place ‘he ghost dances named afer the heareaking dstaton, ‘Anos Mac, crehing and noting changes. “You a the shirmering young woman who found her wie, when you ware warned tbe alto hee your body cut sey ‘oo yo ike an legen weed. You ae te one whose spi i preset in the dappled sts. (hey prance an lope like colored ores wh say with os ‘droog the wet of ehese ney cies And Ihave seen them uzaling the Goven bodies of ttre deus on ie corn)sat | Whae ts Found There “Tis morning when ee nse sr is diming the mile of he cy 1 kom em years since they baie ou he eco nin Laat langage eat could Tse you. the bes grind vovard ‘heat abou i in OMshoma New Mexico, ow the wind owed and pulled everyting cows ina ighcous anger (Qe was the women who told me) and we understood wordy herp meaning of your marr. [Rs T understand ten years later fe the slow changing ofthe sons sha we ae jst bop touch the daaing whicwind of our anger ‘ve hve js aga to peresve the amaned wold the ghost dates centered ‘ly Deal any 1h wet ny fog to wa ee ee Shc EI espn ou rere ed agen ngynig rth ey lea mn SRN Sancta Wie A Mo Ags og a: OUNEI soe Amero nds Move enter ws dx SEES ht co py ts end en ‘Seon th ten ey bt rd ces sh bc oe Sr ter in ae ye be eid ‘What i represented 2s itolenble—as crashing—becomes. the figure of sown transformation through the besuy of he ‘mediam and through the artes uncompromised love fr that Inediom, love as deep athe love of eedom, These lowes are not in opposition. tn anther plac, noe ere,» woman ight couch something Berween betty and nowhere, back there Whar? | a9 snd ere, might pss hand ove and eon Ceembling lie, bo I have ted to imagine 68 not leding git ace fila vertex woman rowing old and never crying to a rdlo ising of ‘lack boys murder Ihave eid to esp my trot tseling ke bis have tend othe hard tetp of race that nai cis rod. Even in ht 1 re ted to hum mad and feathers ands pescfally ths aiage of once and rain. have chewed «So oti leaves her, ha ate alteady denchandng tay mothers ve tid o wre this hig aly ‘ena nes bur 9 close I hae come 1 know something spe. Each sentence reid of reamed jumps Hke 3 pale with Kitory and aks ¢ side, What I say in any language i din fess nowledge of sin, in deunkennes and weeping, ‘old 464 women withost mates and ndr, not ‘won snd in word and in word Hered by Beat, (old in secre and no in secret. ad itn, does not burn ut or wate and is pen and pies and ows “Diane Brand, Ne Lepage Newt Foims, colors, sensuous relaonships, thm, textures, tone, ramimuatons of energy al belong tothe natural wold, Before ‘humans avived.thei power was there; they were nameles yet not powedles. Tb touch their power, humans had to name them: ‘shod branch ft ple, crt, cone striation, oth, sponge, ake, ‘ag, gly ou, eu grain, bunch, slime sale, opine steak, lobe (Over so many meni, so many cles, humans have reached int peesiting nature and made arto celebrate, 0 rie of el to nourish memory, to conjue the dasied vision The revolutionary artist the reayerofpossibiy,draws on such power, in oppastion ta technocratcsoiery’ hated of liformiy hatred of the natural word, hatred of the bodyaso | Whae i Found There hated of datknest and women, hated of disobedience The rev ‘lutionary poet loves people ives, other ceatuts, stones, trees ‘nsepaably fom aris not ashamed of any ofthese Tows, and fr them conjures language tha is public, inmate, inviting, ternijing and beloved Be xxix Six meditations in place of a lecture Let me begin with a dream. {have been invited to give a lee= ture. Increasingly the expected format—the presentation of reviouly worked-out ideas—has become problematic for me lerises up asa blockage to expression, a resistance to meaning. Tn the dream 1 am making the effort once more. What comes to mes the opening of Robert Duncan’ “A Poem Beginning ‘wih 2 Line by Pindat"the Sr line of which read: "To Gs ayy la nigh bine ‘Sill dreasing, my mind becomes ative, plying with che vowel sounds of the ile and fst line, heaving. ina sate of peeu-