Voices from the fringes: a voice was sounding

Welp, here we are at the end of National Poetry Month. I have to say that focusing almost exclusively on the work non-White poets has had much the same effect that spending two weeks visiting battle sites and military graveyards through northern and western France did: it gets really, really dark when you spend time in places where people have done their absolute worst.

It’s possible that—had I searched deeper—I’d have found examples of the black, brown, yellow, red, LBGTQ+ folks contemplating nature, joy, silliness and other things. Because all people experience those things. But I wanted to focus on hearing these voices—mostly new to me—speaking about the things they have to contend with that I don’t even have to think about.

(Actually, thinking about Lorna Dee Cervantes’ poem, “Freeway 280”—the house I grew up in was taken through eminent domain by the state of California for an extension of the Long Beach freeway. But the city of South Pasadena, with ideas far above its station, has effectively blocked construction of the highway, so the house is still there, occupied in rotation by residents at LA County General Hospital. So I connect with her upheaval, although my circumstances are so different.)

In the end—poets write about being human. We all encounter gaps in our time here. We all are swallowed in things we can't name. We all suffer loss, each in our own way. We all strive for meaning and joy and connectedness. And these voices have added to my understanding of what it is to be human. So it’s been a good month for me.

Since this is a Friday, I’m ending the month with a quintessentially American song by a quintessentially American songwriter. Woody Guthrie may have been a White man, but he was definitely not a privileged one. And he wrote on behalf of the little guy, the lost, the deported, the forgotten ones. A couple of years I gave you a recording of “This Land Is Your Land” performed by Woody’s son Arlo, John Mellencamp, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Springsteen and others. This time you’re getting a very different take, from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, a funk and soul group. Seems like a fitting end to the month.