American Poets in the 21st Century Read online

  AMERICAN POETS

  IN THE 21ST CENTURY

  The American Poets in the Twenty-First Century Series

  EDITOR CLAUDIA RANKINE

  2002

  American Women Poets in the 21st Century:

  Where Lyric Meets Language

  Edited by Claudia Rankine and Juliana Spahr

  2007

  American Poets in the 21st Century:

  The New Poetics

  Edited by Claudia Rankine and Lisa Sewell

  2012

  Eleven More American Women Poets in the 21st Century:

  Poetics across North America

  Edited by Claudia Rankine and Lisa Sewell

  American Poets in the 21st Century

  Poetics of Social Engagement

  Edited by

  Claudia Rankine

    and

  Michael Dowdy

  Wesleyan University Press · Middletown, Connecticut

  Wesleyan University Press

  Middletown CT 06459

  www.wesleyan.edu/wespress

  © 2018 Wesleyan University Press

  All rights reserved

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  Designed by Dennis Anderson and Scott Cahoon

  Typeset in Sabon and The Sans by Passumpsic Publishing

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  available upon request

  Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-8195-7829-7

  Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8195-7830-3

  Ebook ISBN: 978-0-8195-7831-0

  5 4 3 2 1

  Cover illustration: Photo by Dave Bleasdale, August 23, 2011. FlickR.com.

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgments

  xii

  Introduction by Michael Dowdy

  1

  ROSA ALCALÁ

  29

  POEMS

  From Undocumentaries

  Everybody’s Authenticity 29

  Job #6 30

  Autobiography 30

  From The Lust of Unsentimental Waters

  Rita Hayworth: Double Agent 31

  Patria 32

  From MyOTHER TONGUE

  Paramour 34

  Voice Activation 36

  Dear María 37

  POETICS STATEMENT

  Poetics of Not-Mother Tongue

  39

  ROSA ALCALÁ’S AESTHETICS OF ALIENATION

  41

  by John Alba Cutler

  BRIAN BLANCHFIELD

  56

  POEMS

  From Not Even Then

  One First Try and Then Another 56

  If the Blank Outcome in Dominoes Adds a Seventh Side to Dice 57

  From A Several World

  According to Herodotus 57

  Edge of Water, Nimrod Falls, Montana 58

  Pferd 59

  Eclogue Onto an Idea 61

  The History of Ideas, 1973–2012: Education 62

  The History of Ideas, 1973–2012: Ut Pictura Poesis 63

  Eclogue in Line to View The Clock by Christian Marclay 64

  Open House 65

  Edge of Water, Moiese, Montana 66

  POETICS STATEMENT

  from “On Abstraction, Permitting Shame, Error and Guilt, Myself the Single Source”

  67

  IN THE DARK WITH BRIAN BLANCHFIELD

  70

  by Chris Nealon

  DANIEL BORZUTZKY

  84

  POEMS

  From The Book of Interfering Bodies

  The Book of Interfering Bodies 84

  From In the Murmurs of the Rotten Carcass Economy

  Decomposition as Explanation 86

  Illinois 89

  From The Performance of Becoming Human

  Let Light Shine Out of Darkness 95

  The Performance of Becoming Human 97

  POETICS STATEMENT

  the continuum: a broken introduction

  103

  PARDON ME MR. BORZUTZKY / IF

  106

  by Kristin Dykstra

  CARMEN GIMÉNEZ SMITH

  122

  POEMS

  From Odalisque in Pieces

  Prepartum 122

  from Goodbye, Flicker

  Hungry Office 123

  Hans Hated Girls 123

  From Milk & Filth

  (Llorona Soliloquy) 124

  (And the Mouth Lies Open) 125

  from “Parts of an Autobiography” 126

  From Be Recorder

  from “Be Recorder” 128

  POETICS STATEMENT

  132

  “THE CALL FOR REVERSAL IS NATIVE”

  The Paradox of the Mother Tongue in the Work of Carmen Giménez Smith

  134

  by Joyelle McSweeney

  ALLISON ADELLE HEDGE COKE

  149

  POEMS

  From Off-Season City Pipe

  The Change 149

  From Blood Run

  Skeletons 154

  Ghosts 154

  Skeletons 155

  From Streaming

  We Were in a World 156

  America, I Sing You Back 157

  POETICS STATEMENT

  Quipu: a poetic

  158

  RESURRECTING THE SERPENT, REACTIVATING GOOD EARTH

  Allison Hedge Coke’s Blood Run

  161

  by Chadwick Allen

  CATHY PARK HONG

  184

  POEMS

  From Dance Dance Revolution

  Roles 184

  From series “St. Petersburg Hotel,” Dance, Dance Revolution

  1. Services 185

  Song That Breaks the World Record 186

  From Engine Empire

  Ballad in O 188

  Ballad in A 189

  Market Forces Are Brighter Than the Sun 189

  Notorious 190

  POETICS STATEMENT

  192

  BUILDING INHERITANCE

  Cathy Park Hong’s Social Engagement in the Speculative Age

  194

  by Danielle Pafunda

  CHRISTINE HUME

  213

  POEMS

  From Musca Domestica

  A Million Futures of Late 213

  From Alaskaphrenia

  Comprehension Questions 214

  Hume’s Suicide of the External World 215

  From Shot

  I Exhume Myself 217

  Induction 219

  POETICS STATEMENT

  Hum

  220

  UTTER WILDERNESS

  The Poetry of Christine Hume

  223

  by Molly Bendall

  BHANU KAPIL

  238

  POEMS

  From The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers 238

  From Incubation: A Space for Monsters 239

  From Humanimal, a Project for Future Children 243

  From Schizophrene 246

  From Ban en Banlieue 247

  POETICS STATEMENT

  248

  PERPETUAL WRITING, INSTITUTIONAL RUPTURE, AND THE PERFORMANCE OF NO

  The Poetics of Bhanu Kapil

  251

  by Eunsong Kim

  MAURICIO KILWEIN GUEVARA

  267

  POEMS

  From Postmortem

  Postmortem 267

  From Poems of the River Spirit

  A City Prophet Talks to God on the 56c to Hazelwood 268

  The Easter Revolt Painted on a Tablespoon 269

  From Autobiography of So-and-so: Poems in P
rose

  Self-Portrait 270

  Mirror, Mirror 271

  A Tongue Is a Rope Bridge 271

  The American Flag 272

  From POEMA

  Against Metaphor 272

  At rest 273

  Pepenador de palabras 275

  Poema without hands 275

  POETICS STATEMENT

  276

  MAURICIO KILWEIN GUEVARA’S SCAVENGER INFRAPOETICS

  279

  by Michael Dowdy

  FRED MOTEN

  295

  POEMS

  From Hughson’s Tavern

  Rock the party, fuck the smackdown 295

  five points, ten points 296

  From B Jenkins

  gayl jones 297

  william parker/fred mcdowell 298

  frank ramsay/nancy wilson 299

  From The Feel Trio

  from series block chapel

  [whenever I listen to cornelius I think of cecily] 300

  [welcome to what we took from is the state] 300

  from I ran from it and was still in it

  [I burn communities in shadow, underground, up on the] 301

  [I often amount to no more than a stylistics. airrion] 302

  [I am foment. I speak blinglish. at work they call me] 302

  From The Little Edges

  the gramsci monument 303

  From The Service Porch

  it’s not that I want to say 304

  POETICS STATEMENT

  306

  SOUNDING THE OPEN SECRET

  The Poetics of Fred Moten

  306

  by Brent Hayes Edwards

  CRAIG SANTOS PEREZ

  321

  POEMS

  From from unincorporated territory [saina]

  from aerial roots 321

  from aerial roots 322

  from aerial roots 323

  from aerial roots 324

  from aerial roots 325

  ginen aerial roots 326

  from aerial roots 327

  ginen aerial roots 328

  POETICS STATEMENT

  329

  TIDAL POETICS

  The Poetry of Craig Santos Perez

  332

  by J. Michael Martinez

  BARBARA JANE REYES

  342

  POEMS

  From Poeta en San Francisco

  [objet d’art: exhibition of beauty in art loft victorian claw tub] 342

  [Kumintang] 343

  [why choose pilipinas?] 343

  [why choose pilipinas, remix] 344

  [galleon prayer] 345

  [ave maria] 346

  [prayer to san francisco de asís] 347

  (ā' zhə fīl) 347

  From Diwata

  The Bamboo’s Insomnia 348

  Polyglot Incantation 349

  The Villagers Sing of the Woman Who Becomes a Wave Who Becomes the Water Who Becomes the Wind 350

  In the City, a New Congregation Finds Her 351

  Aswang 352

  POETICS STATEMENT

  To Decenter English

  353

  ACTS OF POETRY IN TROUBLED TIMES

  Barbara Jane Reyes’s Anticolonial Feminist Voicings

  355

  by Martin Joseph Ponce

  ROBERTO TEJADA

  370

  POEMS

  From Exposition Park

  Debris in Pink and Black 370

  From Full Foreground

  Untitled [Not a word of my surrounding] 374

  Untitled [Impulse in the great organism of terror] 375

  From Why the Assembly Disbanded

  Kill Time Objective 377

  POETICS STATEMENT

  The Acoustic Uncanny

  378

  MARGINAL EROTICS

  Roberto Tejada’s Sexiness

  380

  by David Colón

  EDWIN TORRES

  398

  POEMS

  From The PoPedology Of An Ambient Language

  Dirtspeech 398

  The Theorist Has No Samba! 399

  Barrio/Barrier 401

  From Yes Thing No Thing

  Of Natural Disasters And Love 401

  From Ameriscopia

  And In Trying 402

  Viva La Viva 403

  From “Dome” 405

  POETICS STATEMENT

  Bodycatch/Mindtrap: No Edge But In Things

  410

  THE US IS POROUS

  Edwin Torres in Other Words

  413

  by Urayoán Noel

  Contributors

  431

  Index

  437

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  The editors would like to thank Suzanna Tamminen for her support of this project. Many thanks as well to Francisco Aragón for his initial vision and advocacy for this volume. Permission to reprint copyrighted material has been obtained whenever possible. The editors gratefully acknowledge permission to reprint from the following sources:

  Rosa Alcalá. “Autobiography,” “Everybody’s Authenticity,” and “Job #6” from Undocumentaries © 2010 by Rosa Alcalá, and “Patria” and “Rita Hayworth: Double Agent” from The Lust of Unsentimental Waters © 2012 by Rosa Alcalá are all reprinted with the permission of Rosa Alcalá and Shearsman Books, Exeter, UK, www.shearsman.com. “Paramour,” “Voice Activation,” and “Dear María” from MyOTHER TONGUE. Copyright © 2017 by Rosa Alcalá. Reprinted with the permission of the Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of Futurepoem Books, www.futurepoem.com.

  Brian Blanchfield. “If the Blank Outcome in Dominoes Adds a Seventh Side to Dice” and “One First Try and Then Another” from Not Even Then: Poems © 2005 by Brian Blanchfield, edited by Robert Hass, Brenda Hillman, and Calvin Bedient, are reprinted with the permission of the Regents of the University of California and the University of California Press. “According to Herodotus,” “Edge of Water, Nimrod Falls, Montana,” “Pferd,” “Eclogue Onto an Idea,” “Education,” “Ut Pictura Poesis,” “Eclogue in Line to View The Clock by Christian Marclay,” “Open House,” and “Edge of Water, Moiese, Montana” from A Several World © 2014 by Brian Blanchfield are all reprinted with the permission of Nightboat Books, New York, NY, www.nightboat.org. Excerpt from “On Abstraction, Permitting Shame, Error and Guilt, Myself the Single Source” from Proxies: Essays Near Knowing © 2016 by Brian Blanchfield is reprinted with the permission of Nightboat Books, New York, NY, www.nightboat.org.

  Daniel Borzutzky. “The Book of Interfering Bodies” from The Book of Interfering Bodies © 2011 by Daniel Borzutzky, and “Decomposition as Explanation” and “Illinois” from In the Murmurs of the Rotten Carcass Economy © 2015 by Daniel Borzutzky are all reprinted with the permission of Nightboat Books, New York, NY, www.nightboat.org. “Let Light Shine Out of Darkness” and “The Performance of Becoming Human” from The Performance of Becoming Human © 2016 by Daniel Borzutzky are reprinted with the permission of Brooklyn Arts Press, Brooklyn, NY, www.brooklynartspress.com.

  Carmen Giménez Smith. “Prepartum” from Odalisque in Pieces, by Carmen Giménez Smith. © 2009 Carmen Giménez Smith. Reprinted by permission of the University of Arizona Press. “(Llorona Soliloquy)” from Milk & Filth, by Carmen Giménez Smith. © 2013 Carmen Giménez Smith. Reprinted by permission of the University of Arizona Press. “Hungry Office” and “Hans Hated Girls” reprinted from Goodbye, Flicker: Poems. Copyright © 2012 by Carmen Giménez Smith and published by the University of Massachusetts Press. Excerpts from “Parts of an Autobiography” from Can We Talk Here © 2011 by Carmen Giménez Smith, published by Belladonna Books, Brooklyn, NY, www.belladonnaseries.org, are reprinted with the permission of the author. “(And the Mouth Lies Open)” is reprinted with the permission of Carmen Giménez Smith. Excerpts from “Be Recorder” are used by permission of the author.

  Allison Adelle Hedge Coke. “Th
e Change” is reprinted by permission from Off-Season City Pipe (Coffee House Press, 2005). “We Were in a World” and “America, I Sing You Back” are reprinted by permission from Streaming (Coffee House Press, 2014). Copyright © 2005 and 2014 by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke. www.coffeehousepress.org. “Skeletons,” “Ghosts,” and “Skeletons” from Blood Run © 2006 by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, published by Salt Publishing, Cambridge, UK, www.saltpublishing.com, are reprinted by permission of Allison Hedge Coke.

  Chadwick Allen. “Resurrecting the Serpent, Reactivating Good Earth: Allison Hedge Coke’s Blood Run” is adapted from “Serpentine Figures, Sinuous Relations: Thematic Geometry in Allison Hedge Coke’s Blood Run,” published in American Literature, vol. 82, no. 4. © 2010, Duke University Press. All rights reserved. Republished by permission of the copyright holder, Duke University Press. www.dukeupress.edu.

  “Snake Mound” and “Stone Snake Effigy” from Blood Run © 2006 by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke in Chadwick Allen’s “Resurrecting the Serpent, Reactivating Good Earth: Allison Hedge Coke’s Blood Run” are reprinted by permission of the author.

  Cathy Park Hong. “Roles,” “Song That Breaks the World Record,” “St. Petersburg Hotel Series: 1. Services,” from Dance Dance Revolution by Cathy Park Hong. Copyright © 2007 by Cathy Park Hong. Used by permission of W. W. Norton and Company, Inc. “Ballad in A,” “Ballad in O,” “Market Forces Are Brighter Than the Sun,” from Engine Empire: Poems by Cathy Park Hong. Copyright © 2012 by Cathy Park Hong. Used by permission of W. W. Norton and Company, Inc. “Notorious” is reprinted with the permission of Cathy Park Hong.