"After 9/11: Literature, Arts, and Ethics in the Age of Terror" is a team-taught, interdisciplinary course run by Paul Lauritzen and Philip Metres at John Carroll University, at the 10th anniversary year of the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Somebody Blew Up America
Below is a YouTube video of Amiri Baraka reading, "Somebody Blew Up America."
You might also want to look at this site, which Dr. Metres mentioned in class.
I watched this video several times, and all I can say is "Wow!" Baraka's words combined with his delivery make for powerful poetry. This poem is clearly controversial, and has a shock factor to it, but I think that it is absolutely amazing. I believe the opening statement has perhaps the most powerful line of the video/performance when Baraka says "All thinking people oppose terrorism, both domestic and international, but one should not be used to cover the other." (0:23) The way that Baraka follows such a calm and insightful statement with the line "Somebody blew up America" in a much more "preachy" and somewhat irritated tone pulled me in, and made me want to listen. The opening lines of the first stanza immediately dismiss the idea that the poem is about a specific group of terrorists, and by the way he casually delivers the line "They say it's some terrorist, some barbaric A-Rab, in Afghanistan" shows that he doesn't really care to focus on that point in the remainder of his poem, and almost completely dismissing it through nothing but his delivery. Having looked up a text version of this poem, (http://www.counterpunch.org/2002/10/03/somebody-blew-up-america/) I found that the text wasn't nearly as powerful as when Baraka recited the poem. I found most of Baraka's "questions" in his poem to make me feel incredibly uncomfortable, knowing the answers, but not wanting to admit them, but between every founded line that made me uncomfortable, there was a line that seemed slightly outlandish. All of the allusions to the civil rights struggle, were amazing, and pulled me in, and many of the claims that suggest that the American Government is a terrorist organization were very powerful, but once we finally get an idea who he is talking about, he starts saying things like "Who is the ruler of hell?" This is either meant to confuse the reader and try and keep the reader asking by taking away their confidence in their answer, or he is suggesting that the people that did these things mentioned in the poem are in-fact the devil and the rulers of hell. I don't know the intentions of Baraka's poem, which is probably the most powerful thing about it. Even though this poem has been seen as controversial by many, and poetic treason by some, never have I been so intrigued and fired up about a poem. For that I must tip my hat to Mr. Baraka.
I listened too and read Baraka's poem, "Somebody Blew Up America". I also read the debate where he is accused of anti- semitism. Baraka was named state poet laureate and many people felt he didn't deserve the title because of the way he portrayed anti- semitism in his poems. I think Ismael Reed's commentary on Baraka's poetry was correct in stating, "That's his school. Allen Ginsberg went on trial for 'Howl.' It's a provocative movement. This is not the first time that Baraka's been subjected to controversy. That's part of the movement. Sometimes they go off the deep end. That's theater. That's art." Art to me is something that shouldn't be censored and I think the best art comes from artist that are not afraid to do what others are afraid to do. I think of art as a freedom of expression and I feel that's what Baraka did with his poem "Somebody Blew Up America". I do agree however that maybe he didn't deserve to be named the States poet laureate because I could see how someone might be offended by the claims or statements he makes in his poem. Hansen said, " Both poets had not read 'Somebody Blew Up America," referring to two of the poets who nominated Baraka as poet laureate. Although this is understandable, I think it would have done them some good to do their research on Baraka and controversies surrounding him. However, as Robert Pinsky said, "'Poet laureate' does not entitle one to anything or oblige one to anything. It is like being given a compliment. You can't fire somebody from a compliment." I've only read this one poem by Baraka but, I do not feel they should have regretted this "compliment" or tried to take it away based on this argument.
"Somebody Blew up America" asks a series of questions about what happened on September 11. To start it off Baraka says, "All thinking people oppose terrorism both domestic and international... But one should not be used to cover the other." After such a declaration, the poem states: "Somebody Blew Up America... They say it's some terrorist, some barbaric Arab in Afghanistan, It wasn't our American terrorists, it wasn't the Klan or the Skin heads, or the them that blows up nigger churches, or reincarnates us on Death Row." Selwyn R. Cudjoe believes that “as a poet, he can only answer these questions through the deployment and organization of language to arrive at a particular stance on the matter,” because poems are meant to be heard instead of being read. Cudjoe also says that “it is significant that before he even says a word about the Jews, he uses language that resonates in a manner that brings home the pain and suffering that African Americans and all other oppressed groups have had to undergo at the hands of white American terrorists.” The ending of Baraka’s reading of the poem was also quite intense. It was all like a rhetorical sucker punch towards America because all of the “why” and “who” questions seemed to come back to America. I agree with Cudjoe when he states that “Wrenching four lines from this poem does it a terrible injustice, no matter how passionate one feels about the sentiments that are expressed.”
Cudjoe, Selwyn R. "Selwyn R. Cudjoe - One Way of Reading 'Somebody Blew Up America'" TRINICENTER.COM - An Online Magazine on All That Is Trini plus International News and Views. 14 Dec. 2002. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.
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ReplyDeleteI watched this video several times, and all I can say is "Wow!" Baraka's words combined with his delivery make for powerful poetry. This poem is clearly controversial, and has a shock factor to it, but I think that it is absolutely amazing. I believe the opening statement has perhaps the most powerful line of the video/performance when Baraka says "All thinking people oppose terrorism, both domestic and international, but one should not be used to cover the other." (0:23) The way that Baraka follows such a calm and insightful statement with the line "Somebody blew up America" in a much more "preachy" and somewhat irritated tone pulled me in, and made me want to listen. The opening lines of the first stanza immediately dismiss the idea that the poem is about a specific group of terrorists, and by the way he casually delivers the line "They say it's some terrorist, some barbaric A-Rab, in Afghanistan" shows that he doesn't really care to focus on that point in the remainder of his poem, and almost completely dismissing it through nothing but his delivery. Having looked up a text version of this poem, (http://www.counterpunch.org/2002/10/03/somebody-blew-up-america/) I found that the text wasn't nearly as powerful as when Baraka recited the poem. I found most of Baraka's "questions" in his poem to make me feel incredibly uncomfortable, knowing the answers, but not wanting to admit them, but between every founded line that made me uncomfortable, there was a line that seemed slightly outlandish. All of the allusions to the civil rights struggle, were amazing, and pulled me in, and many of the claims that suggest that the American Government is a terrorist organization were very powerful, but once we finally get an idea who he is talking about, he starts saying things like "Who is the ruler of hell?" This is either meant to confuse the reader and try and keep the reader asking by taking away their confidence in their answer, or he is suggesting that the people that did these things mentioned in the poem are in-fact the devil and the rulers of hell. I don't know the intentions of Baraka's poem, which is probably the most powerful thing about it. Even though this poem has been seen as controversial by many, and poetic treason by some, never have I been so intrigued and fired up about a poem. For that I must tip my hat to Mr. Baraka.
ReplyDeleteI listened too and read Baraka's poem, "Somebody Blew Up America". I also read the debate where he is accused of anti- semitism. Baraka was named state poet laureate and many people felt he didn't deserve the title because of the way he portrayed anti- semitism in his poems.
ReplyDeleteI think Ismael Reed's commentary on Baraka's poetry was correct in stating, "That's his school. Allen Ginsberg went on trial for 'Howl.' It's a provocative movement. This is not the first time that Baraka's been subjected to controversy. That's part of the movement. Sometimes they go off the deep end. That's theater. That's art." Art to me is something that shouldn't be censored and I think the best art comes from artist that are not afraid to do what others are afraid to do. I think of art as a freedom of expression and I feel that's what Baraka did with his poem "Somebody Blew Up America".
I do agree however that maybe he didn't deserve to be named the States poet laureate because I could see how someone might be offended by the claims or statements he makes in his poem. Hansen said, " Both poets had not read 'Somebody Blew Up America," referring to two of the poets who nominated Baraka as poet laureate. Although this is understandable, I think it would have done them some good to do their research on Baraka and controversies surrounding him. However, as Robert Pinsky said, "'Poet laureate' does not entitle one to anything or oblige one to anything. It is like being given a compliment. You can't fire somebody from a compliment." I've only read this one poem by Baraka but, I do not feel they should have regretted this "compliment" or tried to take it away based on this argument.
"Somebody Blew up America" asks a series of questions about what happened on September 11. To start it off Baraka says, "All thinking people oppose terrorism both domestic and international... But one should not be used to cover the other." After such a declaration, the poem states: "Somebody Blew Up America... They say it's some terrorist, some barbaric Arab in Afghanistan, It wasn't our American terrorists, it wasn't the Klan or the Skin heads, or the them that blows up nigger churches, or reincarnates us on Death Row." Selwyn R. Cudjoe believes that “as a poet, he can only answer these questions through the deployment and organization of language to arrive at a particular stance on the matter,” because poems are meant to be heard instead of being read. Cudjoe also says that “it is significant that before he even says a word about the Jews, he uses language that resonates in a manner that brings home the pain and suffering that African Americans and all other oppressed groups have had to undergo at the hands of white American terrorists.”
ReplyDeleteThe ending of Baraka’s reading of the poem was also quite intense. It was all like a rhetorical sucker punch towards America because all of the “why” and “who” questions seemed to come back to America. I agree with Cudjoe when he states that “Wrenching four lines from this poem does it a terrible injustice, no matter how passionate one feels about the sentiments that are expressed.”
Cudjoe, Selwyn R. "Selwyn R. Cudjoe - One Way of Reading 'Somebody Blew Up America'" TRINICENTER.COM - An Online Magazine on All That Is Trini plus International News and Views. 14 Dec. 2002. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.