TOLLE, LEGE

Pardlo discusses his vision of a new America that is not racially based and details some of the past discrimination African-Americans, his family included, has had to face. According to Pardlo, a poet in his own right, if nothing is risked, if nothing is offered in sacrifice, then there is nothing t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Yale review Vol. 106; no. 2; pp. 31 - 38
Main Author Pardlo, Gregory
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New Haven Johns Hopkins University Press 01.04.2018
Subjects
Poetry
Racism
Social activism
Social change
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Summary:Pardlo discusses his vision of a new America that is not racially based and details some of the past discrimination African-Americans, his family included, has had to face. According to Pardlo, a poet in his own right, if nothing is risked, if nothing is offered in sacrifice, then there is nothing to draw poet and reader together. Without risk, the reader has no reason, other than being nosy, to be invested. Without risk, the poem is a screen rather than a medium. It’s a visit to the zoo. We want access, vulnerability, flesh. Isaac did not literally have to die. God, lacking poetry, wanted to feel that Abraham’s devotion was real. The poem is a ritual space for the practice of feeling.
ISSN:0044-0124
1467-9736
DOI:10.1111/yrev.13336