{"id":10279,"date":"2019-02-11T11:25:43","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T16:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=10279"},"modified":"2019-02-11T11:27:32","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T16:27:32","slug":"a-few-needful-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2019\/02\/11\/a-few-needful-poems\/","title":{"rendered":"a few needful poems"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you don\u2019t read much poetry, I would highly recommend these poems– they\u2019re beautiful and poignant, and impart a deep trove of wisdom on the subtleties of race relations in America in such a small amount of space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTheme For English B\u201d by Langston Hughes<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poems\/47880\/theme-for-english-b<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

When his white instructor prompts their class to write something that comes out of them naturally, Hughes questions what it means to write something truthful or authentic about himself, especially when the world often shapes how he views himself. The poem gets to its central conflict of the definition of the self when Hughes questions, \u201cSo will my page be colored that I write?\/ Being me, it will not be white.\/ But it will be\/ a part of you, instructor.\/ You are white–\/ yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.\/ That\u2019s American.\u201d Essentially, he is proposing that though he has a different background than his instructor, they are both part of each other and the larger American narrative, whether they like it or not. Though this is true, Hughes still acknowledges, at the end of the poem, that there are still power imbalances in place that make equal and open exchange of ideas difficult: \u201cAs I learn from you. I guess you learn from me–\/ although you\u2019re older– and white–\/ and somewhat more free.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMeeting A Stranger\u201d by Sharon Olds<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/muse.jhu.edu\/article\/505268<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3w_uaeYJi7c<\/span><\/a> (this is her reading the poem– she\u2019s spectacular at performing her poetry, so it\u2019s worth a watch)<\/span><\/p>\n

This poem is from the perspective of a white person painfully aware of the connotations of being served by a black woman in a restaurant in the contemporary world. She begins the poem by discussing how the two of them meeting– Olds, a white woman, and this stranger, a black woman– is unequivocally joined by their mothers and fathers and \u201cwhat they might have\/ thought of each other\u201d, and by their people and how they must have historically interacted with one another. She says that these ghosts of their pasts are faint– \u201cquivers of reflected\/ light on a wall\u201d, but their presence is palpable. This poem is not from the perspective of a minority black person reflecting on their messy slew of identities working with and against each other, like in \u201cTheme For English B\u201d; rather, this poem is from the perspective of a white woman who recognizes her privilege and the American history that has allowed her– nay,<\/span> rewarded<\/span><\/i> her– for her ignorance of the suffering of African American peoples. Whether or not the history is so obvious in the room is not truly the question here– rather it is that she is <\/span>recognizing<\/span><\/i> it and taking responsibility for it. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPoem For the Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent Well-Read Person, Could Believe in the War Between Races\u201d by Lorna Dee Cervantes<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/aspotlightoflornadeecervantes.blogspot.com\/p\/poem-for-young-white-man-who-asked-me.html<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

This poem is loosely addressed to a young white man, though the address is not as personal and intimate as it is in Olds\u2019 \u201cMeeting a Stranger\u201d. There is something defiant, pained, and outraged about the tone of the poem, as though the whole thing is just an trembling, explosive tirade against the young white man\u2019s ignorant comment. It does not carry the contemplative, semi-idealistic, ruminating tone that is prevalent in Hughes\u2019 and Olds\u2019 poems. In the last part of the poem, Cervantes describes herself as \u201ca poet\/ who yearns to dance on rooftops\u201d and enjoy and understand life. However, she says she is constantly reminded that \u201cthis is not\/ my land\/ and this is my land.\u201d The last few lines of the poem bring back its central question: Cervantes concludes that although there may not be a war on races specifically labelled in that way, there is certainly still unrest and dispute– \u201cthere is war\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you don\u2019t read much poetry, I would highly recommend these poems– they\u2019re beautiful and poignant, and impart a deep trove of wisdom on the subtleties of race relations in America in such a small amount of space.\u00a0 \u201cTheme For English B\u201d by Langston Hughes https:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poems\/47880\/theme-for-english-b When his white instructor prompts their class to write […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2194,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10279"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10279"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10281,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10279\/revisions\/10281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}