The Toni Morrison bio-documentary/interview A Life In Pieces is amazing. One reviewer was quoted as saying something like ‘she has transcended race in this latest book’ – the implication being that this is a good thing that makes her an even better writer. You know I’ve never read a review of novel/books by authors such as Joyce Carol Oates or Stephen King that says that they transcended race, or gender.
One of the things that Morrison said was that she decided not to explain issues in her characters lives but to merely present them because she felt her black readers would already understand & she felt no need to tell them the why of what they already knew. This resonated with me as I often felt need to give my queer characters backstories that explained their coming out – something I still find in movies & novels about the queer experience – explaining things for the heterosexual gaze. There is more to my life than my coming-out experience.
As my poetry became less concerned with explanations or making emotions universal I did get some negative feed back for being too insular – very similar to critical response to some of Morrison’s work that was too race oriented to be ‘quality’ literature. That is until she transcended race. Which I don’t think she really did, or had to do, it’s just that the culture around her became more educated & caught up to her.
I have a few of her novel on my shelf that I may reread. I did download her book of essays ‘The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations’ & have bumped it up to the front of the read next on my Kindle. I’m in the middle of two other books on it now & can’t start yet another one until one of them is finished. Emile Zola’s “La joie de vivre” & Koji Suzuki’s Edge – both amazing & highly recommended.
(from July 2007)
Racking Up Bonus Miles
more never leads to enough
satisfaction is a sigh of defeat
too much stuff is a nice beginning
the constant scratch seeking struggle
doesn’t matter if it fulfills a need
or even a want
it’s just stuff
lots and lots of stuff
fill every nook & cranny
empty is a sign of defeat
bare space isn’t spare simplicity
it is need poverty
only the rich can afford empty space
which they fill with their satisfaction
satisfaction is defeat
more is better than equality
<>
life is a pointless staring glazed at TVs
that aren’t big enough
too much empty space
between the neutrons
making up picture
it’s too easy to fall between the cracks
in the waiting glazed fumble
give me stuff or give me breath mints
<>
bursting at the seams is a start
time to look for bigger seams
to get more stuff in
stuff the up the cracks
stuff up your ass
stuff stuff stuff
<>
how good it feels
to bring home bags of unopened books
the smell of the paper
the space between letters
waiting to be filled
new cds flash in the sunset
as I peel plastic skin off them
new shoes not laced yet
new helicopters new tanks
to keep our boys safe in war
war that never gets enough
there is no such thing as enough death
no quenching that hunger
<>
that smokey smell
is life burning away the past
to make space for the future
why learn lessons
there are new mistakes to be made
mistakes like forgetting
that more never leads to enough
satisfaction is a sigh of defeat
too much is surrender
will that be cash or visa
you get more bonus miles with visa
sweet, eh? paypal.me/TOpoet
TOpoet 