By Salina Falcon Poetry has the potential to bring together what some say to be a divided nation. It speaks about personal experiences and how to cope with them. For many poets, poetry is also a vessel they can use to press concerns they have regarding life around them and how they believe these can be fixed. Amanda Gorman, a Los Angeles youth poet laureate and, at 22, the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, conveys the power of poetry and how it can be political. “Poetry has never been the language of barriers, it’s always been the language of bridges. It’s that connection-making that makes poetry, yes, powerful, but also makes it political,” Gorman mentions during a TED Talk. Poets have the ability to rewrite the nation, with the words and fearlessness they speak, taking on certain issues in society. Gorman writes in her poem In This Place, “the Protestant, the Muslim, the Jew, the native, the immigrant, the Black, the Brown, the blind, the brave, the undocumented and undeterred, the woman, the man, the nonbinary, the White, the trans, the ally to all of the above,” portraying the hopefulness in united integrity.
“Poetry was very confined in Iambic pentameter, in the 18th century. Then you get into poetry evolving with the American Civil War, and you start to see the free verse poetry come to life at the end of the 19th century. Then you see the beginning of World War I and World War II, and how poets interact with the changing of times,” she states. Chicanx Femme gives an example of T.S. Elliot, whose poetry style evolved as times changed, writing with responses to the “Lost Generation” of World War I. Issues disrupting the unity within the United States is something that many poets feel the urge to bring to light, while others may turn away from. “You have so many Latinx, Black, Asian poets and it’s something that you’re seeing more often because our people are basically saying ‘hey, we are not being represented,’” says Chicanx Femme, as she describes the desire poets have in bringing representation and expression to heritage in a learning society.
“ Poets and writers in general are able to perceive the world from a bird’s-eye view in a sense, they are able to see everything to deconstruct it” Political poetry is defined by poets as a type of writing style that is related to activism, protest and social concern. It also comments on social, political or current events. Stacy Russo, an Orange Country poet, explains that the types of poetry that might be considered political are, “Someone speaking about racism, someone speaking about feminism. That content is then easy to see as political poetry.” How a poet’s writing evolves with time and history, must also be taken into consideration. A poet can take us on a journey through time, to help us understand how our world once was, to where it can be.
Chicanx Femme writes poetry on envisioning a new world and getting rid of mass incarceration. “I also touch upon the immigrant experience, about how people do start over all the time… In the immigrant rights movement, you really see how the narrative of immigration has now started to embrace concepts of capitulation because detention centers are an extension of mass incarceration.”
Chicanx Femme’s poetry is an example of how poets perceive injustices that occur across the globe. Poets have the ability to push for change and make people listen— building those bridges and connections with their audiences. Just by reading a poem one is able to learn about someone else, and what they are going through at any point in time. “Poets and writers in general are able to perceive the world from a bird’s-eye view in a sense, they are able to see everything to deconstruct it,” Chicanx Femme says. Political poetry holds an important place for writers—being able to have a voice and use it as a way to help others. They are able to listen and observe the world around them to proclaim those stories.
Hmm Chicanx Femme, a Santa Ana poet, explains the transitions of poetry according to each era and the change it endured through each decade within American and general poetry.
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Gustavo Hernandez reading his poetry at RipRap, a Cal State Long Beach literary journal event celebrating its 40th anniversary. Photo Credit: Richard Sánchez
