Voice Heard
Story by charles_they on SoFurry
Not normally the sort of thing I post on here, but here we go.
voice heard
the status of free
verse
poetry
in the Euro-American poetic canon
has heretofore been a question of voices
heard and
unheard
yet, before the whimsy
of that canon can be discussed, the definition of _voice _
_heard _
for the purposes of this essay
must be made
explicit.
here, _voice _
_heard _
denotes four properties:
1) the self-expression of a person;
2) which carries with it the entirety of that person's personal context, in body, mind,
and society;
3) which is publicly available inasmuch as it can reach those who seek to engage with it,
regardless of wealth or status;
and
4) whose content remains unabated by any institution
al force seeking to systematic
ally restrict
and promote certain types of expression.
having now
the beginnings of a definition of _voice _
_heard _
— and with the promise of further development
of that definition
to come —
it can now be said that, within the public
scholastic sector,
a single archetype of _voice _
heard first
became the voice of the Euro-American poetic canon,
then
subsequently
wrote itself into existence,
and others,
out.
This archetype is the indebted scholar (Harney and Moten 62).
exploring the voice of the indebted scholar requires
explaining each property
of _voice _
heard,
as only through a voice being heard
can one not hear
another.
this can take many forms:
for the first property,
self-expression is emphasized be
cause a person is
capable
of expressing only themselves.
indeed,
when one performs
ethno
graphy,
extracts oral histories,
or reprints
another's free verse,
one harvests another person
's self-expression and re-expresses it through one's
own
situated context.
in this way, the indebted scholar is in a state
of constant re
interpretation, collecting and
“offering to match credit for debt" (Harney and Moten 62) as reimbursement
for that person's voice going
unheard
and the indebted scholar's being heard
— yet that credit comes
in the form of
vouchers
that can only be redeemed within the sphere
of the indebted scholar's
influence.
they will print more
of one's poetry in their ant
hology,
email one direct
ly for
calls for submission
s, and request pieces
from one for an upcoming work,
but the indebted scholar decides
the subject
of the anthology, what genres, themes, and
structures
are worth exploring, and who
is appropriate
for the task.
the poems will always be
framed by the indebted scholar, who drowns
in lent credit that can never be
redeemed quickly enough.
with the transformation of one
's voice
into the indebted scholar
's _voice _
_ heard,_
the second property
of _voice _
_heard, _
personal context,
is foreclosed upon as the person becomes disembodied
(Dumit 353),
their physic
ality, mentality, and struggles
disappearing,
replaced
by the text of the indebted scholar.
the person is lost in translation
be
cause the Euro-American poetic canon
has only one _voice _
_heard, _
and so those who evaluate
and consume
poetry should be able
to project the indebted scholar
onto
and
back off of
the page.
in this way, the poet is
credited
for their
contribution,
the voice is
stripped
from the
verse
and the verse is
shipped across the
sea
to serve
in
the indebted scholar's exploits.
however, issues arise
when the indebted scholar meets with a dis
sonant text:
the free
verse.
when the trained
ear
has learned well the rhythmic lilting _voice _
_heard _
of the indebted scholar
and
has since ceased to study
other voices
(Harney and Moten 62),
it cannot grasp
the free
verse,
as
it has know
ledge
only en
compass
ing
the indebted scholar.
the verse cannot serve the scholar;
the voice cannot be stripped from the verse and rebranded;
and thus,
the poet cannot be given credit, and only accrues debt
— a debt of speaking into the
void
and listening for the unheard.
these acts of speaking
unheard
and listening
are study (Harney and Moten 62),
an act of know
ledge,
where
one empties and loses
what they held as know
ledge.
here, the third property
of _voice _
heard,
public access, is invoked, as the indebted scholar has this
in all the wrong ways.
the letters sent
between
lettered friends
sharing poems were not open letters to the
unlettered public,
but
they received each other;
the pro
genitors did not have platforms
on which they could proliferate their poetry with
out boundaries,
but
they could share with others who became pro
genitors and disciples;
and
books were
(are)
expensive
and
made
by
and
for
other indebted scholars.
yet, the poetry
collections first read then learned
by indebted scholars are rhymed
and metered,
and
so
they produce poetry
collections that are rhymed
and metered,
which are first read and then learned
by subsequent indebted scholars, who produce poetry
collections based on having their
know
ledge, writing their own canon into existence.
the free verse
poem is never read first, and then
never read, because when it can be
read, it is no longer a
poem,
but
degeneracy.
if the indebted scholar studied
— accruing debt by losing
know
ledge,
rather than by lending credit
to those who then
must lend credit —
they would no longer be
speaking
and thus be
able to hear the other voices.
instead, those voices are written out
until
they submit and
accept credit.
the fourth property
of <i>voice
heard, </i>
systematic restriction and promotion, over
laps with
all of the above.
the indebted scholar is an institution
that promotes its own self
-expression
of poetry
to survive;
they decide
which contexts should be
expressed by poetry,
and
how;
they decide
what is
and isn't
poetry;
and when their _voice _
_heard _
becomes threatened by the likes of free verse
poets, they consume
the free verse and reinterpret it as their own.
the free verse which wasn't
poetry
in accordance with their
calcified learnings
(Harney and Moten 62)
becomes
poetry, subject
to the indebted scholar's approval.
whitman becomes the father of the free
verse
(Reynolds 314),
even though there were others
writing free
verse, be
cause in a domain of silence,
other voices could be
heard
if the indebted scholar was not
speaking.
so, the indebted scholar calls for submission
s
of free verse
only,
publishes their free
verse anthology,
asks poets for free
verses to critique academically, lending a new type
of credit
in exchange for the halting of study.
then,
once again,
the indebted scholar is
the only _voice _
_heard _
in the Euro-American poetic canon, as their voice makes
unheard
all others.
in summary, a definition of _voice _
_heard _
was given
for the context of this essay,
and used
as a medium to explore the way in which the arche
typical _voice _
_heard _
of the indebted scholar became the sole
_voice _
_heard _
of the Euro-American poetic canon,
and
how that altered the nature
of free verse
poetry.
by examining a
long
side the indebted scholar:
self-expression
versus reinterpretation;
personal context
versus general context;
public access
versus private access;
and
systematic control
versus uncontrolled transmission,
three events were established:
the establishment of the indebted scholar
's _voice _
_heard _
and thus Euro-American poetic canon, where know
ledge
is credit lent to learn and lend credit;
free
verse as an act of study
in the domain of poetry, where
one empties one
self of the poetic canon so as to be able to study more;
and
the assimilation of free
verse into the Euro-American poetic canon so as to become
the only _voice _
_heard _
on the subject of the free
verse,
and once again write out
other voices.
bibliography
Dumit, Joseph. "Writing the implosion: Teaching the world one thing at a time." Cultural Anthropology 29.2 (2014): 344-362.
Haraway, Donna. "Teddy bear patriarchy: Taxidermy in the garden of Eden, New York City, 1908-1936." Social Text 11 (1984): 20-64.
Harney, Stefano and Fred Moten. 2013. EXCERPTS. The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning and Black Study. 62, 67-68, 124-127
Reynolds, David S. Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography. New York: Vintage Books, 1995. ISBN 0-679-76709-6