Week Six: Anne Winters

After a couple of weeks of severe uncertainty, I feel much more comfortable in the realm of Anne Winters. That’s certainly not to say that I have full understanding, but Winters’ prosy style is more akin to other things that I’ve read in the past. Her narrative, perhaps simply because of the sheer number of words, is more substantially fleshed out and I think slightly (only slightly) less open to interpretation than the sparse verses of Merwin and Valentine.

I found The Displaced of Capital very moving. The stories were so singular, so compelling, I don’t think I’ll forget them any time soon. “The Grass Grower,” being so near the beginning of the book, is the one that first drew me in. It never ceases to be startling that people alive today have memories of the Jim Crow South, whether firsthand or one degree removed.

I thought the way Winters explores displacements feels like a continuation (in more detail) of Rich’s “Dislocations.” Winters’ narrative of Pilar and Pequita in “An Immigrant Woman” was fascinating. I’m curious if these stories are true. Winters voice is so genuine and she so clearly places herself in the narratives that it’s easy to believe them and accept them as fact. I think it’s interesting that Winters is the first of our activist poets who makes it plain that her message comes not just from conviction, but from very specific experiences. After Merwin, Rich, and Valentine, Winters specificity is surprising, not just in the full, round, characters she describes in the beginning half of the volume, but in the “Sonnet Map of Manhattan” we also get specificity of place—a very detailed exploration of New York and of the poet’s relationship with her father.

The final poem, “The First Verse,” continues in volume’s pattern of specificity but seems different from the clear narrative arcs of the majority of the poems. “The First Verse” was the place I felt most intrigued. I enjoyed reading what I assume was Winters’ own process through reading and translating the first verse of the Hebrew Bible. I was especially interested in the third stanza which talked about the goddess Tiamat and referenced the feminine aspects of God in the Psalms. I’ve always been interested in the way God’s absence of gender turned into militant insistence of his manhood. I’m very much looking forward to discussing all of these. I think everyone will have a lot to say about these much more explicit poems.