Modern and Contemporary Poetry and Poetics Edited by Rachel Blau DuPlessis Professor Emerita of English at Temple University, USA

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1 Modern and Contemporary Poetry and Poetics Edited by Rachel Blau DuPlessis Professor Emerita of English at Temple University, USA Modern and Contemporary Poetry and Poetics promotes and pursues topics in the burgeoning field of twentieth- and twenty-first century poetics. Critical and scholarly work on poetry and poetics of interest to the series includes social location in its relationships to subjectivity, to the construction of authorship, to oeuvres, and to careers; poetic reception and dissemination (groups, movements, formations, institutions); the intersection of poetry and theory; questions about language, poetic authority, and the goals of writing; claims in poetics, impacts of social life, and the dynamics of the poetic career as these are staged and debated by poets and inside poems. Topics that are bibliographic, pedagogic, that concern the social field of poetry, and reflect on the history of poetry studies are valued as well. This series focuses both on individual poets and texts and on larger movements, poetic institutions, and questions about poetic authority, social identifications, and aesthetics. Language and the Renewal of Society in Walt Whitman, Laura (Riding) Jackson, and Charles Olson The American Cratylus Carla Billitteri Modernism and Poetic Inspiration The Shadow Mouth Jed Rasula The Social Life of Poetry Appalachia, Race, and Radical Modernism Chris Green Procedural Form in Postmodern American Poetry Berrigan, Antin, Silliman, and Hejinian David W. Huntsperger Modernist Writings and Religio- scientific Discourse H.D., Loy, and Toomer Lara Vetter Male Subjectivity and Poetic Form in New American Poetry Andrew Mossin The Poetry of Susan Howe History, Theology, Authority Will Montgomery Ronald Johnson s Modernist Collage Poetry Ross Hair Pastoral, Pragmatism, and Twentieth-Century American Poetry Ann Marie Mikkelsen (Re:)Working the Ground Essays on the Late Writings of Robert Duncan Edited by James Maynard

2 Women s Poetry and Popular Culture Marsha Bryant Poetry After the Invention of América Don t Light the Flower Andrés Ajens, translated by Michelle Gil-Montero, introduction by Erin Moure and Forrest Gander New York School Collaborations The Color of Vowels Edited by Mark Silverberg The Poetics of the American Suburbs Jo Gill The Afro-Modernist Epic and Literary History Tolson, Hughes, Baraka Kathy Lou Schultz Delmore Schwartz A Critical Reassessment Alex Runchman The Poetics of Waste Queer Excess in Stein, Ashbery, Schuyler, and Goldsmith Christopher Schmidt US Poetry in the Age of Empire, Piotr K. Gwiazda Global Anglophone Poetry Literary Form and Social Critique in Walcott, Muldoon, de Kok, and Nagra Omaar Hena Modernist Legacies Trends and Faultlines in British Poetry Today Edited by Abigail Lang and David Nowell Smith Writing Australian Unsettlement Modes of Poetic Invention Michael Farrell A Poetics of Global Solidarity Modern American Poetry and Social Movements Clemens Spahr

3 A Poetics of Global Solidarity Modern American Poetry and Social Movements C l e m e n s Spa hr Palgrave macmillan

4 A POETICS OF GLOBAL SOLIDARITY Copyright Clemens Spahr 2015 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission. In accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN The author has asserted their right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number , of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of Nature America, Inc., One New York Plaza, Suite 4500, New York, NY Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. ISBN E-PDF ISBN: DOI: / Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.

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7 Contents List of Figures A ck n o w l e d g m e n t s Permissions ix xi xiii I nt ro duc t ion 1 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chaoter 6 Blazing Signals of a World in Birth : Lyrical Expression and International Solidarity from the Literary Left to the Popular Front 21 Global Harlem: The Internationalism of the Harlem Renaissance 53 Remapping America: The Epic Geography of Post World War II American Poetry 85 From Cuba to Vietnam: Anti-Imperialist Poetics and Global Solidarity in the Long Sixties 117 Contemporary American Poetry and the Legacy of the Third World 147 Contemporary American Poetry, Literary Tradition, and the Multitude 175 C onc lu sion Not e s 215 B ibl i o g r a ph y 227 In d e x 247

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9 Figures 1.1 Advertisement for Red Poets Nite, from the Daily Worker (1928) Mark Nowak, Shut Up Shut Down (2004) Mark Nowak, Coal Mountain Elementary (2009) Mark Nowak, Coal Mountain Elementary (2009) Mark Nowak, Coal Mountain Elementary (2009) Anne Waldman, The Iovis Trilogy (2011) Cover Art from Strike Anywhere, Change is a Sound (2001) 204

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11 Acknowledgments A great number of people have supported me while I wrote this book. Cary Nelson has been a generous mentor and a great interlocutor. He has shared his phenomenal expertise and his archival knowledge as well as his private archive; he is, most of all, a good friend. I would like to thank him and Paula Treichler for repeatedly welcoming me into their home and for the fine conversations we had during my research stay at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Oliver Scheiding has supported my academic work for over ten years. He has continuously encouraged me to pursue this project and helpfully commented on it at various stages. The book is certainly more focused because of his insightful comments and critique. Mita Banerjee also provided very useful comments that were particularly helpful in clarifying the goals of this book. Tim Lanzend ö rfer and Philipp L ö ffler have read parts of the book manuscript at various stages. Their scrupulous, critical comments forced me to rewrite and improve considerable sections of the book. They are both great readers and dear friends. I would also like to thank them for the delightful theoretical conversations during the twenty-fifth annual American Literature Association conference in Washington, DC. Rachel Blau DuPlessis deserves much more than the usual nod of gratitude for accepting the book in the Modern and Contemporary Poetry and Poetics series. Her review letter was direct, detailed, and justly critical of some aspects of the manuscript s original version. Her comments on my work are the best I have ever received, and her superior knowledge of American poetry and superb sense of form improved this book immeasurably. I am severely indebted to the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, whose John Bud Velde Fellowship allowed me to do a substantial amount of work with the library s fantastic poetry collection. I would like to thank the library s director, Valerie Hotchkiss, for making this research visit possible. I am grateful to Dennis

12 xii Acknowledgments Sears, who guided me through many bureaucratic obstacles and assisted me in finding my way both on and off campus. I would also like to thank Adam Doskey and Chloe Ottenhoff for sharing their expertise, for helping me with the library s collections, and for their good company. Furthermore, I would like to thank Roger Bellin for many productive discussions, but mostly for his friendship and encouragement. Patricia Godsave is as good a proofreader as one can hope for and did her best to make this book readable. Jennifer Ashton has been a fine conversational partner. For further advice, support, and for comments on the manuscript, I would like to thank Alfred Hornung, G ü nter Leypoldt, Robert Dale Parker, Gregor Baszak, Tanja Budde, Kristin Fuhrmann, Maximilian Meinhardt, Frank Obenland, and Franziska Schmid. At Palgrave Macmillan, Brigitte Shull believed in this project from the day I submitted the book proposal. Ryan Jenkins answered even the most tiresome questions about the editorial process (and copyright issues in particular) in a patient and knowledgeable manner. I would also like to thank those publishers and artists who granted me permission to reprint excerpts from their poetry and song lyrics. I would finally, and most importantly, like to thank my family for bearing with me while I wrote this book. My deep thanks go to my father, Axel; my mother, Gabriele; my sister, Franziska; and to my brother-inlaw, Fabian, for their continual encouragement and warmth. The most important person in all this was my wife, Melanie. Her patience and support have made this project possible. She is also the person most enthusiastic about the book s publication: it is finally over; our family life can be resumed. While I worked on this book, our son Benjamin was born. He will enjoy ripping apart a copy to test its paper quality. This book is dedicated to him.

13 Permissions I gratefully acknowledge the permission to reprint longer excerpts and images from the following: Bayani from Bayani by Blue Scholars (Rawkus 2008). Words by Geo Quibuyen. Lyrics reprinted by permission of the author. The Harlem Renaissance from The 3rd World by Immortal Technique 2008 Viper Records. Reprinted by Permission of Viper Records. Shut Up Shut Down by Mark Nowak (Coffee House Press 2004). Reprinted by permission of the author and Coffee House Press. Coal Mountain Elementary by Mark Nowak (Coffee House Press 2009). Reprinted by permission of the author and Coffee House Press. Cover Art from Change Is a Sound by Strike Anywhere (Jade Tree 2001). Courtesy of Jade Tree. Artwork by Jeremy Dean. Blaze and To the World from Exit English by Strike Anywhere (Jade Tree 2003). Words by Strike Anywhere. Reprinted by permission of Jade Tree. The Iovis Trilogy by Anne Waldman (Coffee House Press 2011). Reprinted by permission of the author and Coffee House Press.