Date sent: Tue, 03 Oct 2000 09:01:00 +0100
Subject: Re: Amarhy & Poetry
From: Kari Foster <[log in to unmask]>
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>
>
> John Moore wrote:
>
> > I could
> > provide some explication, but is anyone interested? We'll see!
>
> I have now read the attached file and, yes, at least one person is
> interested. Please explicate!
OK. Well in the first instance the issue of roots is an important one
in contemporary anarchist thinking. There's been a lot of theoretical
work about the origins of domination, some of which locate these
origins in a whole ensemble of things such as time, number, art
and (perhaps most pertinently in the current context) language. In
one way, my poem is a rejoinder: it's talking about how identity and
activity is also shaped by language, and even if domination and
language are somehow connected, language shouldn't be
dismissed or abolished, but can be a powerful source for
resistance. Hence the etymological material - these too are roots.
Further, there's my sense that cultural & individual transformations
are a vital prerequisite and accompaniment to radical social
transformation.
Second, it's a poem that asks questions about roots, about what
roots means for different peoples with different historical
experiences. The Burning Spear refrain is meant to set up a
dialectic. There's much talk these days about postcolonial voices
writing back at the empire. But what happens if you live in the
homeland of the empire but want to resist it? So this poem is a
kind of dialogue between me, as a white English person, interested
in the rediscovery of roots and the extirpation of domination, and a
postcolonial voice also interested in roots rebellion. So in a way the
poem's about the legacy of British colonialism and how anarchism
might fit in there.
>
> One thing I wonder is how you would read certain parts of this
> poem aloud (with all the parentheses, quotations, references, etc.),
> but of course I'm not expecting a demonstration.
If you want a demonstration, I suggest attending the Anarchist
Bookfair, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1 on Saturday
14 October at 1pm, where 'all' will be revealed (maybe). I'm giving a
joint reading there with my companion, and the short answer to
your question is that we shall devise a way of reading 'Roots
Anarchy' (and other poems in a similar mode by me) between us,
so that there is a juxtaposition and collision between the text's
component parts. Whether it will work, who knows! I've given plenty
of readings of my short fiction before, but this is terra incognito for
me. Wish me/us luck!
John
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