Rumpus Poetry Editor Brian Spears on why he chose Elizabeth Alexander’s Crave Radiance as the third selection of the Rumpus Poetry Book Club.
I have a confession to make: before December 17, 2008, I’d never heard of Elizabeth Alexander. And what’s more, the first poem of hers I ever heard or read was “Praise Song for the Day,” the poem she read at the inauguration ceremony of President Barack Obama. As you may recall, the poem wasn’t exactly what you’d call a hit. (One of the first pieces I wrote for The Rumpus involved that poem.) How did I get from complete ignorance of Alexander’s work to choosing Crave Radiance New and Selected Poems 1990-2010 for my first month at the helm of the Poetry Book Club?
If I might digress for a moment, though, outside forces play a role in what books we have to choose from. The calendar is an issue since we only select pre-release books, and the lead time, especially from small presses (who we plan to make selections from in the future), is often fairly short for all the behind-the-scenes maneuvering we have to do in order to get books to everyone and set up a chat with the poet. And what’s more, we worry, and have from the first time we—the Advisory Board, Stephen and Isaac—met about diversity in our selections. And I think our conversation with VIDA about gender breakdowns in The Rumpus’s reviews and regular columns shows that we’re concerned about and aware of the issue.
But for me diversity involves more than just gender and race and sexuality—it also includes poetic style, school, and even one’s point in a poetic career. For example, our first selection was Shane Book’s first book. Our second is Timothy Donnelly’s The Cloud Corporation, and he’s also in the earlier stages of a poetic career. So why not choose someone a bit more established this time around? Elizabeth Alexander has published four books of poetry, and she’s one of four people to ever serve as Inaugural Poet. With Alexander we have the chance to view a poet in mid-career, and since we’ll be looking at a New and Selected collection, we’ll be able to see how her poetry has grown over time. Instead of looking at a snapshot, we’ll be looking at a photo album, you might say.
And what I’ve come to appreciate in the days I’ve been reading through Crave Radiance is that Alexander is a poet who hasn’t stopped growing. She does not write predictable poems; while she has a recognizable voice, she does not write the same poem over and over, which is a danger for any poet who’s been at their craft for a while. Alexander’s poems are vibrant and powerful from first to last in this selection.
Discussing Crave Radiance will also give us the chance to talk about racism and sexism in our society, since Alexander’s work deals with both, and since neither is a thing of the past (despite media claims to the contrary after the 2008 election). And I’ll admit, I’m a little nervous about leading these discussions, since I’m a member of the privileged class. It would be easy for me to simply stand back and say to the group “have at it—I can’t relate,” but if I wasn’t willing to wade in and maybe make an ass of myself, I wouldn’t have chosen this book. Attorney General Eric Holder said the US is a nation of cowards when it comes to talking about race, and I agree to a large extent. I’d add that we’re not that great when it comes to talking about sexism either—we’d much rather act like it’s yesterday’s problem. So here’s our chance to talk about two very touchy issues in the context of a beautiful and powerful collection of poems. I’m scared to death, but I’m excited too.
And plus, we get to chat with the Inaugural Poet. How cool is that?
