disorientated. Alternatively, write a poem which incorporates, and moves
between, several voices.
The dissident lyric
One of the most influential insights of critical theory, originating in
Marxist theory, has been that all texts are ideological. Texts which purport
to be apolitical still inscribe a political view, even if a naturalised one. A
dissident lyric (see Exercise 1c) overtly fuses the personal and the political.
Your dissident lyric might be a poem about environmental damage, or
consumerism, or gay politics. Such a poem would contextualise personal
experience in terms of social attitudes.
The poet John Wieners said that he liked to make the audience feel as
uncomfortable as possible. You don’t necessarily have to make this a prime
aim of your writing, but you might want to raise the consciousness of your
audience about a particular social issue, and in some cases this might
involve discomfort.
Wanda Coleman’s poem ‘the ISM’ is a postmodern lyric which has a strong
political edge. She is African American, and the poem seems to be about
racism. The interweaving of the personal and political makes the poem par-
ticularly strong. Racism is seen to be central to the poet’s life, and to affect
everything she does: it is an unwelcome companion she would rather not
have at her side. At the same time race is not addressed directly by name in
the poem but somewhat obliquely (and all the more powerfully for that):
Example 8.7
tired i count the ways in which it determines my life
permeates everything. it’s in the air
lives next door to me in stares of neighbors
meets me each day in the office. its music comes out the radio
drives beside me in my car. strolls along with me
down supermarket aisles
it’s on television
and in the streets even when my work is casual/undefined
it’s overhead flashing lights
i find it in my mouth
when i would speak of other things‘the ISM’ (Coleman 1994, pp. 474–5)Student Sophie Clarke writes movingly about social attitudes towards
disabled people. This poem, which manages to be strong and gentle at the
Postmodern poetry, avant-garde poetics 165