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| Photo credit: © 1998 Jeff Hurwitz |
Ron Silliman's blog has many recurring themes, one of which is '
History'. Now history is a pretty self-explanatory topic: it’s basically a recollection o f events that happened in the past. But Silliman’s approach in his blog is different. His perspective of history is through the eyes of poetic analysis. His approach is also unique as he often blog about his first hand account of these events. Some of the events included:
- National Poetry Foundation where Kevin Killian was a key note speaker in the 80’s
- An International Poetry Festival 2012
- Poetry Communities & Individual Talent conference 2012
- Charles Bernstein & Yunte Huang discussing Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective & His Rendezvous with American History at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop
- The Poetry Foundation 2012.
Poetry uses language to create impressions and evoke emotions. All of these events part of history and they helped shaped Silliman’s history directly. For example he was invited by the poetry foundation to speak on the topic “How poetry had changed in that ten years”. And according to Silliman this was “a significant phenomenon of the new decade.” The recurring theme of history isn’t a broad topic, in fact the theme resonates of poetic history. How is poetry affecting important political and societal issues such as AIDS in the 1980s, or Gay Activism. Kevin Killian said a very important quote that stuck with me he said:
"a poet dimensions are spiritual and political. Although the political dimensions were not so accessible poets were expected to use these poems to access them."
Such a powerful thoughts,and I leave this question with you:
"What role might poetry play in a society's understanding of its history?"
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Its interesting how poetry actually helped him in a way. Who knew history could be so interesting
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your comment.
DeleteI agree with you regarding Silliman's first-hand account - it really brings history to life. That reminds me of how a Holocaust survivor once came to speak in m old school and that had more impact and historical interest than half my history textbook did!
ReplyDeleteIt's great to see that poetry can impact people and act as a catalyst for change - great examples of that.
Poetry is already playing an important role in reshaping society...think about the lyrical poetry of rappers for example: it brought attention to issues that impovrished African-American communities face.
I agree with you. Poetry can be a great catalyst for change. Maya Angelou embodies this for me.
DeleteAfter reading her autobiography - all the prejudices and barriers placed against her because of race and gender, the hardships and struggles experienced in her life - I was deeply inspired. Her poetry makes me want to get up, stop making excuses, and change the world in some way ... starting from the inside out.
I must agree with Silliman's statment that poetry is used to make political matters more accessible.
ReplyDeletePoetry has always been spiritual, with out the spirit poems are nothing.
Your post reminded me of a friend of mine that told me fasinating story of her mom's life. She was Jewish and was lucky to escape the holocaust and how WW2 left countries in ruins. I would love to see Silliman's response to this story and what kind of poems he would make (if hasn't already)