from "That Once Were Beautiful Children," by Claudia Rankine
from Ploughshares Spring 2012
I have been infected by the voice of Claudia Rankine. And what I mean is that I was once at one of the Squaw Valley fundraiser readings, and I heard Rankine read her poems. And it happened. Her voice made itself a resident inside me. It's a latent infection. Which is what makes it all the more mysterious. Because I'm not sure I understand what is in the Claudia Rankine poem that compels that voice to come into my ear. What is in Plot that is also in Don't Let Me Be Lonely that is also in The End of the Alphabet.
It's a quiet voice. A quiet that could easily be holding back a whole ocean. An ocean of what? I don't know. I don't have to, because the voice has everything under control. It is soothing, and it's serious. The portion in Ploughshares, from "That Once were Beautiful Children," makes me feel serious about history and the present and race. It's like there is this chaos the speaker has been dealing with all her life, but now there's today.
Now, there's this relationship she has with her brothers, or her brother. And there is so much tenderness in that relationship. My God, it is tender. Who are these brothers? Are they real brothers of this world? Are they figures from history? The poem is quick to teach that you don't need to know exactly who these men are. What matters is how close the speaker is with them. Her compassion for them gives access to what they've suffered.
I am not African-American. I cannot know how these brothers from the poem have suffered. But I can listen to this speaker. I can feel her compassion. Is that the ocean Rankine is holding in this poem? Compassion in this poem is chaotic. It is a crescendo. And the poem makes it feel limitless. Perhaps most importantly, these brothers are not more than the subject and addressee of the poem. They are the pivot that turns a reader like me to look at history, and to consider the continuing relevance of history on the present moment. It is powerful to have such a quiet and patient voice tell me why history still matters.
Recommended Links:
Don't Let Me Be Lonely
Claudia Rankine reads this selection!
My previous post about Rankine's Don't Let Me Be Lonely
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