Against Reportage

Exercise Your InkTank
Politic Politics Political Poetry

We’re living in a city that is (reportedly) one of the most violent in the country. So far this year there have (reportedly) been 68 murders; 273 rapes; 1,761 robberies; 879 aggravated assaults; 4, 475 burglaries; and 2, 248 auto thefts. We’re living in a state that is (reportedly) one of the most important in the upcoming elections. Over $170 million has (reportedly) been spent on campaign ads, the large majority of them negative. We’re a people who are (reportedly) fed up with politics. When we cast our votes, many of them will (reportedly) fail to be counted.

Reportage has its place in the world. As does political propaganda. But what place does poetry have in our politics? How do we contribute to the conversation without becoming lost in the white noise of political punditry? I asked Melissa Tuckey, a friend deeply involved in both political and writing communities in D.C., to help us to approach these kinds of questions and she very graciously agreed. Here’s what she said:

One problem with political poetry is when the writers are not open to the complexity of the problem they are writing about—or the complexity of language. It's easy with politics to reduce everything to sound bites and partisan thinking, but this is not poetry.

The poet should be open to discovering something new about whatever subject they are writing about. Sometimes it helps to come at it from a completely illogical point of view, or angle, to see something new again.

I also think its important not to fall into false dichotomies, “us versus them, self versus other” thinking. To recognize your own complicity in whatever evil you most abhor. To write from your conscience—to wrestle with it. CK Williams does this well.

Ultimately I think all poetry is political in that it causes the reader to recognize and appreciate the complexity of the world. It frees us from the world of slogans and invites us to think for ourselves. That’s political.

Many of the political poems I write end up in the trash, but it makes me feel better to write them.

I think poets should write about things that matter.

It’s helpful to look at poetry by poets who write successfully about such matters: some of my favorites are Whitman, CK Williams, Adrienne Rich.


Against Reportage:
For all that is said about us, we’re a very informed and aware people. And our knowing extends well beyond what the reports about us say. Whatever your politics, you’re a person with a voice. Like Melissa says, It's easy with politics to reduce everything to sound bites and partisan thinking, but this is not poetry. Let’s do the hard thing. Together, we’ll compile the reports about us. Individually, we’ll struggle to remain open to the complexity of the problem we are writing about—or the complexity of language. We’ll make an effort to see something new about the subject, or see it from a different angle. Even if it ends up in the trash, it might make us feel better to write it.