Literary critic Juan Vidal wrote a piece for NPR Books entitled Where Have All The Poets Gone? In it he says, "The Beat Generation is dead, and literary provocation in America, I submit, is at a low." He hungers for a time when poets were at the forefront of marches and rallies, speaking out against injustice.
I don't know what the world used to be like. I don't know if poetry used to have a broader audience than it does now. Allen Ginsberg died when I was six years old. I've never marched for any cause. But maybe that's because when people in my generation support a cause or are enraged by an injustice, we don't take to the streets. We go to social media. We raise awareness by sharing youtube videos. We try to change minds by blogging.
All the great poets aren't dead and gone. They're online. After Michael Brown's death, Sarah Kay shared the poem not an elegy for Mike Brown by Danez Smith on facebook. Poets are outraged. Poets are still speaking out. I've noticed this especially in support of contemporary feminism. Lily Myers' poem Shrinking Women has been viewed over 4 and a half million times. Here it is for those of you who haven't seen it:
Just today I read a poem by Kayla Wheeler that gave me chills. Girls Night Out is about the events immediately after a sexual assault. Maybe these poems aren't provocative enough for Juan Vidal. Maybe he would like us to be provoked into marching about the injustices we see around us every day. But provoking us to become conscious of how we raise our daughters, how we treat our female friends, how we might be perpetuating rape culture, I think that's some worth while poetic provocation.
I don't know what the world used to be like. I don't know if poetry used to have a broader audience than it does now. Allen Ginsberg died when I was six years old. I've never marched for any cause. But maybe that's because when people in my generation support a cause or are enraged by an injustice, we don't take to the streets. We go to social media. We raise awareness by sharing youtube videos. We try to change minds by blogging.
All the great poets aren't dead and gone. They're online. After Michael Brown's death, Sarah Kay shared the poem not an elegy for Mike Brown by Danez Smith on facebook. Poets are outraged. Poets are still speaking out. I've noticed this especially in support of contemporary feminism. Lily Myers' poem Shrinking Women has been viewed over 4 and a half million times. Here it is for those of you who haven't seen it:
Just today I read a poem by Kayla Wheeler that gave me chills. Girls Night Out is about the events immediately after a sexual assault. Maybe these poems aren't provocative enough for Juan Vidal. Maybe he would like us to be provoked into marching about the injustices we see around us every day. But provoking us to become conscious of how we raise our daughters, how we treat our female friends, how we might be perpetuating rape culture, I think that's some worth while poetic provocation.
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