Writing Plural Worlds in Contemporary U.S. Poetry

Writing Plural Worlds in Contemporary U.S. Poetry

Writing Plural Worlds in Contemporary U.S. Poetry Innovative Identities Jim Keller

writing plural worlds in contemporary u.s. poetry Copyright Jim Keller, 2009. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-61220-4 All rights reserved. First published in 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-37692-6 ISBN 978-0-230-62376-7 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230623767 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Keller, Jim. Writing plural worlds in contemporary U.S. poetry : innovative identities / by Jim Keller. p. cm. 1. American poetry Minority authors History and criticism. 2. Experimental poetry, American History and criticism. 3. Ethnicity in literature. 4. Identity (Psychology) in literature. I. Title. PS153.M56K45 2009 811'.5409920693 dc22 2008054862 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Scribe Inc. First edition: August 2009 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Betsy and Jim

Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Of Being Numerous 1 1 Plural Worlds and Aztec-Chicano Serial Poetry: An Emergent Protest Literature 23 2 Alfred Arteaga and Francisco X. Alarcón: Forms of Fire and Time in the Poetic Series 49 3 Gods at the Crossroads Between the Self and the World: Radical Polytheism in N. J. Loftis 73 4 Nathaniel Mackey s Agnostic History and The Creaking of the Wheel 107 5 A Bridge Over Worlds: James Thomas Stevens s Plural-World Particularism 135 6 A Bridge Is Simple Movement 163 7 Fears of a One-World Language 179 Notes 197 Works Cited 207 Index 219

Acknowledgments As it has passed through multiple permutations over several years, this manuscript has become hugely indebted to readers, friends, family members, colleagues, and students. And I would like to acknowledge the people who have supported, criticized, clarified, tested, and helped me to revise my ideas. Ira Livingston, Maria Damon, Roman de la Campa, Kelly Oliver, and Paul Armstrong all read earlier drafts of chapters very patiently. In addition, I am grateful to share thoughts and fruitful discussions with colleagues at the Bard College Center Institute for Writing and Thinking Juliana Spahr, Joan Retallack, Jena Osman, Carley Moore, Matt Longabucco, and Bill Webb to whom many warm thanks for their friendly encouragement, as well as their creative and critical insights, are due. Before the thinking that led to these chapters even became clear, it was prompted by, and evolved through, conversations with Bruce Bashford, Jolanda Cats, Eric Haralson, Hugh Silverman, Stacey Olster, Fred McGlynn, Dolores Holland, Chris Beach, Jennifer Sue Nelson, Bill Bevis, Natalie Ries, Peter Dale Scott, Alison MacLean Dawson, Matt and Stacey Herman, Bill Baerg, Meredith Gore, Mike Wegan, and David MacLean. Over e-mail and phone conversations, my former teacher Bert Dreyfus at University of California, Berkeley proved amazingly generous in the amount of time and detail that he dedicated to talking through my multiplying questions. The later stages of the manuscript benefited enormously from discussions with Elena Rivera, Celia Bland, Tonya Foster, Miranda and Delia Mellis, Dawn Lundy Martin, Stephanie Hopkins, Stephanie Dunson, Rebecca Chase, Thom Donovan, Andrew McCarron, and Jonathan Skinner. And the inspiration to stick with and to develop the book owes to the lively in-class feedback that I received from students at SUNY Stony Brook, Michigan State, and Bard. In Iowa, Dee Morris made helpful suggestions concerning several chapters that she may only dimly recognize in their current form. Thanks, too, to SUNY Stony Brook for providing a postdoctoral fellowship just as I was discovering in writing what I wanted to say. Ira Livingston and Doug Noverr put me in front of classes that allowed

x Acknowledgments students and I to consider what it might mean to relinquish / Sanity to redeem Fragments, a la Oppen; and at the MSU Library, Angela Kille and Angela Maycock both steered me toward unique resources. Also, thanks to my anonymous outside reviewer for helpful suggestions. I am grateful to these personal and professional attentions, and all errors are, of course, my own. I was lucky to have the recent opportunity to talk to the family of my now sister-in-law, Presciliana Esparolini, during the celebration of her marriage to my brother Tom in the summer of 2008. Many of her family members had been familiar with the people, the politics, and the art of late 1960s San Francisco, and I learned a striking amount from conversations with my immediate and extended family the last time that I visited my first home. Meanwhile, I am thrilled to have spent time with family abroad, with John Campbell in Michigan and Shirley Fly in North Carolina, who continue to provide substantial intellectual and emotional support. The philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend said that major discoveries are like recognizing that one has been dreaming and I am thankful for family members who continue to support my curiosity and development even while reminding me of my earlier, dreamier selves. My mother and father, and Tom, Holly, their families and I always seem to teach each other something new but familiar. And of course, first, last, and throughout come my greatest thanks of all to Kim Cohen and Logan Cohen Keller, who made the whole process seem worthwhile and who brought a smile to the prospect of coming home to it. This book would not have been possible without their exquisite kindness and patience.