In his essay, “Documentary Poetry and Archival Desire,” published in the on-line journal, Jacket2, Joseph Harrington defines documentary poetry as designating “poetry that (1) contains quotations from or reproductions of documents or statements not produced by the poet and (2) relates historical narratives, whether macro or micro, human or natural.” Such poetry shifts the focus away from the solitary person toward more communal purposes. This poetry more resembles history, journalism, or your facebook or twitter feed than it does the verse of Elizabethan and Romantic poets. This is not meant to dismiss them, simply to identify what makes this form different from other modes of poetry. Many works of documentary poetry take on significant historical events; others make arguments about political, social, and/or cultural issues.
We will read widely and deeply in the form. There will be a class blog, in addition to in-class discussion, which students will be required to write on every week; we will also be interviewing some of the authors by way of the blog. I will organize office hours to talk to each student individually about his or her work.
While most of the readings are in poetry, others will be in documentary prose. Books can be purchased at Revolution Books: among the works we will read are:
Don Mee Choi, Hardly War, Wave Books
Donovan Kuhio Colleps, Proposed Additions, Tinfish Press
Aja Couchois Duncan, Restless Continent, Litmus Press
Sesshu Foster, City Terrace Field Manual, Kaya
Deborah Miranda, Bad Indians, Heyday
Kristin Prevallet, I, Afterlife, Essay Press
Course requirements to include: a short and a longer research essay; once weekly blog posts about the reading; short creative pieces; fervent in-class participation; midterm and final exam.