Especially with reading Jamila Woods' poetry for class today, I am always pleasantly surprised as to the consciousness of social issues within the variety of work. This may be a simple and granted observation, but nonetheless, it is the level of discourse that is consistent from Audre Lorde to Jamilia that is important.
In Woods' work, there is heavy focus on the class structures that separate poverty and wealth, and how that affects social and familial dynamics. She demonstrates that the relative inequality and the changes in additudes are the result of "being green"; that is, forgetting where you came from and your roots, and placing money over family. Her poem "beverly, huh" demonstrates a stark awareness of this hypocrisy within the black community straddling these economic lines. Woods seems to yearn for unity for overall equality for her race as humanity.
We see a similar dynamic played out in Zami, where economic standing strongly infleunces the lifestyle of individuals who are deemed "outside" of society. Audre Lorde addresses this problem with her own formula of independence, living her own life according to her rules, and putting complete dependency upon herself. In Jamila's work, we can perhaps see the opposite, where the family in Beverly falls into wealth for the sake of comfort, instead of facing prejudice and changing circumstances for the better.
It would be interesting to see if Jamila herself would draw or agree with these connections, and whether or not they influence her in developing her consciousness of other social issues. I, at least as a reader, can daw some parallels, but each poet is different in expressing their ideas.
No comments:
Post a Comment