OK, I'm just going to read two or three poems
from my new project, which, because I don't
seem to have any original ideas, is another rewriting project.
But this project is a rewriting of the "Dream
Songs" of John Berryman.
Now, those of you who are familiar with the "Dream Songs"
will know that this very kind of confessional work that
is ostensibly about Berryman's personal life
also contains a number of racial stereotypes,
including the use of a sort of pseudo-blackface dialect.
And one thing that you have to confront
in reading this kind of originary texts
of confessionalism is, what are these racial stereotypes
doing in this work?
And I tried to think about how I would approach this
as not a white reader, not an African-American reader,
but as an Asian-American reader, and thinking
about how these stereotypes might kind of function
for me as a reader and also as a rewriter.
So I can say more about that, but I'll just
read a couple of poems from this project and then finish up.
These are called "Chinese Dreams."
"Chinese Dream One."
Timid Timothy read Cathay.
Indiscrutable Timothy moped.
I tuned his voice, a thing all pieced together.
It was the silence that they violenced-- they could do it--
that made Tim quiet and dismay.
But could he have called out defiance?
All the world like a Marco Polo once
did plumb poor Timothy's mind.
Then came a translation.
Thereafter, nothing fell from his mouth but coin.
I can see how Timothy, rind of the world's desire,
fell behind.
What he has now to say is a song plundered by the world,
clear and free.
Back in the bamboo, I was mad as a clattering bowl, and I rang.
Soft on the hand grows prosperity,
and quiet grows every head.