Darkness. JW: I can see how youre a time poet rather than a space poet. It seems like, at midcentury, whatever limitations they had, they had a common idea of literature, which probably valued highbrow modernism, whereas now its much more disparate and up for grabs. A former college basketball star, he treats poetry like a timed game, a theatre for dramatic last-minute outcomes. She has an opportunity to do right by it, and she hasnt.. Everybody has their own weird thing, and mine is that I like books. JW: One downside with the glut of information now is that theres no stable core of references. My good fortune was that I was tall, so I played basketball. You aint allowed to derideWomen when youve never wept in front of a womanThat wasnt your mother. I feel like thats what I aspire to. [4] Currently, he teaches at New York University.[5]. In my ignorance, though, that meant I was majoring in fine arts, and I was taking writing. Jeffrey J. Williams: You use a variety of forms, you sometimes draw from popular culture, and your poetry changes from book to book, so it would be hard to define you as one kind of poet or from one school. If youve got a restaurant and youre McDonalds, you cant sell sushi, you just make burgers. (Im one of the few people I know of in my cohort that doesnt do social media. Its still an open-ended process. Im not that interested in anything other than making something, playing with something, and it doesnt have to be anything other than poetry. 2023 Cond Nast. Its like your grandfather worked every day at the mill, but you never knew what his favorite color was, or what cruel thing his mother said to him when he was ten years old. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Probably all my encounters. But Im still trying to get people to the table. Some of the older teachers crowd in the doorway like befuddled geese. He was very direct about what he thought my potential was. I thought, maybe Ill teach, and if I didnt teach, maybe Ill go work in the prison. You say it's really inventive. The defendant can claim a constitutional violation occurred during the trial in this case, Jackson and his attorney would argue Ramos applies to him, which could grant him a retrial. "My Aesthetic Schizophrenia: An Interview with Terrence Hayes", Jonathan Moody, Audio: Terrance Hayes Reading for From the Fishouse, Library of Congress Online Catalog > Terrance Hayes, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Terrance_Hayes&oldid=1111538819, Short description is different from Wikidata, Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 21 September 2022, at 14:09. None of those were affected by the Ramos decision. In his fight for a retrial, Jackson is joined by a coalition that is beginning to form around the issue. But now theres digital or social media, which people like my daughter are very aware of. In his five books, he has perfected a sort of poem where wild jams carom inside arbitrary formal boundaries. Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature, My grandfather was a war veteran; my dad was in the army; my brother was in the army. Thats Wallace Stevens or T.S. I think thats useful, but on the other hand, its not quite satisfying for me. TAYLOR: Well, again, it's interesting in that poem that I just read where he says, assassin, you are a mystery to me, I say to my reflection sometimes. I mean, what does he accomplish by doing this? I dont necessarily have to commit to one circle, even though I feel people pulling me, Be on my team, be on my team! and Im not sure if I want to be only in your part of the house. With success, you get encouraged to think, Im so special that people will just watch me be me. So when Pacino starts being himself in his movies and stops acting, people accept that and say, Oh, its Al Pacino! Its always what I go back to, and everything is filtered through that. Its the name people of color call/Themselves on weekends & the name colorful/People call their enemies & friends. Or, in the manner of a personals ad, to invite her closer: A brother versed in spiritual calisthenics/And cowboy quiet seeks funny, lonesome,/Speculative or eye-glassed lass. Alongside these gamelike poemsthere is a sonnet about Scrabbleare tributes to Emily Dickinson and Langston Hughes, an appreciation of James Baldwins face, and the first #MeToo-era elegy Ive ever read, working through the legacy of Derek Walcott. I was just at one on page 37, and it ends in the middle of an interstate rest stop parking lot. TH: I feel limited as a painter. I dont think about everybody that looks the same; I dont know who those people are, but Im going to feed them. The names alive are like the names, In graves. Perhaps easier to fathom is the notion that Hayes has so internalized the threat of execution that he sees his assassin in the mirror. If I switch metaphorsand Ive had this argument with Mary Karrits like if you make a meal and your audience is waiting to eat it, but when you put it on the table, they have to watch you eat it. Its a great meal, and maybe youre a terrific eater, so they watch and wow, those noodles look delicious. Then, finding him in my forties, and becoming somewhat ambivalent about what that means. Then when I got a fellowship to the University of Pittsburgh, it really seemed cheaper. Terrence Haynes. There are formal and rhetorical puzzles in nearly every one of Hayess poems. So Ill risk naivety in the moment. The sonnet clips its authors wingsand yet a wide sample of appetites and aversions, vices and virtues, sneaks into it. If other people are eating it, thats fine, but this is your job. I always thought I wasnt that much different from anybody else. As a student of poetry, I find that confessionalism is a great tool that fiction writers dont have. Where theres an experience, Im thinking: Is this going to be converted to a lyric moment? Award-winning poet Terrance Hayes has written his most daring and reflective poems to date for his third collection, "Wind in a Box." Drawing on influences that range from Dr. Seuss and Amiri Baraka to David Bowie, the associate professor of creative writing at Carnegie Mellon explores identity, race, culture and the dark side of American history. But the big challenge was other people trying to tell me how to fix the poems. To me, the conversation is done once I choose a side. Activists want Rosenblum to act now, otherwise an answer could be months away. [7], In 2018, Hayes premiered Cycles of My Being commissioned by Opera Philadelphia, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Carnegie Hall with music by Tyshawn Sorey starring Lawrence Brownlee. But hes not idling either. My whole life journey is pretty much to get back to my people, Jackson said. So maybe thats a form of ambivalence. I was born in 71, and we had multitasking and were in the electronic age. Hayes said hes disappointed in Rosenblums decision to wait, especially with her being the judge that oversaw his case 16 years before. He had been in Vietnam, and I think he worked as one of JFKs speech-writers or something like that, but he had left all of that and had this big horse farm in Camden. Youre not as fixed in one position. Its gonna be work, its gonna be a hobby, its gonna be something I love., jding@oregonian.com; 503-221-4395; @j_dingdingding. Terrance Hayes. There are no doubt different kinds of programs, but what do you think makes a good program, and what makes a bad program? Terrance Hayes, Hip Logic, Penguin Books, 2002. Hes still on post-prison supervision. Because I wasnt in a class and didnt have to turn it in at the end of the week and revise it and turn it in again in a portfolio at the end of the semester, I could just work. How do you see that affecting creative writing programs? In fact, I tried to do that, all the contemporary poetry books and the books on the Pitt Press, because I assumed that everybody else had. The poet Terrance Hayes first arrived on the scene in 1999 with a book called "Muscular Music." Since then, he's won a huge number of literary prizes, including a MacArthur Foundation fellowship. Sometimes he uses sonnets to stump the reader: This word can be the difference between knowing/And thinking. Thesis, antithesis, and synthesizingthat certainly is my way of being in the world all the time. Reverting to childhood may be an impossibility, but it is the solitary unquestionable way to recuperate unblemished happiness . watch your mouth is little more. I mean, I can't actually remember another book that does this, where every single poem has the same title for an entire collection. All my flaws and quirks and neuroses, they fit just as well as the scarring that comes from racism or masculinity, and I dont want to have to cut that off. TH: Me too, because theres too much affect in the fiction. As of late February, the Oregon Attorney Generals office has conceded or partially conceded 340 of those cases. They must withstand humiliating sexual reviews to participate in the economy at all: There was black male review for ladies nightAt the nightclub. SHAPIRO: Tess Taylor sharing Terrance Hayes's new collection called "American Sonnets From My Past And Future Assassin." Terrance Hayes is a poet who reflects on race, gender, and family in works marked by formal dexterity and a reverence for history and the artistry of crafting verse. You were outside the main academic pipeline and didnt have a silver spoon. My interest is not what people expect from me as a poet; I know I can make burgers, but can I make sushi? JW: College was pivotal for you, and you work in a university. And I think, if I was really trying to fully capture consciousness, I would have to leave poems. People confuse privacy and secrecy way too much. Its okay if I spent all that time on this manuscript, and it is, by some terms, a failure, but by other terms, its going to lead to something at some point. TH: Most workshops are set up around strategy, but theyre not set up around failure. He is very much interested in what it means to be an artist and a black man. Jackson stepped foot into prison when his kids were in elementary school. What you find with the typical grad student, even on the first day, is theyre thinking about books and concepts. A week earlier, Murrell had assaulted Haynes at a shopping mall in an . The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Hayes is preparing to file for post-conviction relief. In basketball, I was fine. Trending. in the face the music of his wrist-. On the other hand, it has to be gratifying. Im a student of poetry, and I feel like everythings on the table, and I can use it all. It was sort of like Walter Benjamins Arcades Project, but it wasnt working and it wasnt good, so I stopped and finished How to be Drawn. Terrence Hayes is known for Abe & Phil's Last Poker Game (2017), Knives Out (2019) and Manchester by the Sea (2016). Part of the reason for the relatively low number is insufficient data in many cases, defendants will never know if they were convicted by a split jury because their lawyer never asked and it was never preserved in court records, Kaplan said. This story was amended March 22, 2021, to clarify that Rosenblum would not handle Hayes post-conviction relief case because he is no longer in custody nor is he on post-prison supervision. But I have no nose, no mouth, so you tell me what's good, what's god, what's funky. Hayess poems describe the black bodyboth fetishized and criminalized. They love their grandpop, Jackson said. shelved 32,633 times. He was the type of professor whose house youd visit, and all my family had met him before he passed. It can synthesize historical knowledge and research and contextualize those things, because its happening right now. Do you see paintings as a puzzle? You wont admit it. Then I stood them up, and I had a grid of images. Could you do community workshops? Im chasing it. Are existential jambalaya. The best stuff still hasnt happened. I like a little sea bass, too, or a little halibut. Im someone who wants to experiment and play and see what happens, because itll be new no matter what it is, which is probably why I cant write a novel. JW: Like the poem about her pulling a gun on you, Late? In that box, there were twelve twelve-by-twelve tiles, and once I put some gesso on oneit was smooth, and I could paint on it. I dont know how many people know this, but I was on ESPN for the National Scholastic Indoor Track and Field Championships. Terrance Hayes (born November 18, 1971) is an American poet and educator who has published seven poetry collections. After Ive done a poem, then I can think about it as a piece of the puzzle and as a part of this whole thing, as opposed to writing one poem at a time, and when I get to twenty poems or forty poems, I have a book. In Dont Call Us Dead, the poet brings the unruly power of performance to the written word. What's going on here? NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with poetry reviewer, Tess Taylor about Terrance Hayes' new collection American Sonnets for my Past and Future Assassin. TH: Flexibility is what makes a good program. TH: Or I might have become a high school English teacher. Because I was lucky enough to get a scholarship, my parents didnt feel compelled to tell me what to do. Bridging those things is my natural way of thinking, and I think of that as a collage. Born in Columbia, South Carolina, Terrance Hayes earned a BA at Coker College and an MFA at the University of Pittsburgh. Probably twilight makes blackness dangerous. You have to be adaptable. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has the power to allow post-conviction relief cases be sent back to county district attorneys for retrial. I didnt know what happened on the other side of college. But I dont think thats always true for other people. Maybe youll try this? And maybe well generate poems that arent done or finished, but at least weve made something new. JW: If I were to periodize your work, Id say there are three phases so far. I dont think the number increases or decreases the potential for finding real brilliance in the pool. Some of my undergraduate students dont know that there is another way of learning. And theres a lot of ways to choose a side. That is what I value in a workshop. How you get fairly boring poems about race is because you are trying to plug into some notion about identity, as opposed to some notion of personality. This thing Im writing is, after all, also called a review. JW: I like the essays more than the fiction. It was because I couldnt afford a twelve-by-twelve canvas for each of the pieces. American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin ["Probably twilight makes blackness dangerous"] By Terrance Hayes. What do you think is a flaw of your poetry? Im going to eat it the same. Because Oregon is 76% white and 2% Black, according to U.S. Census figures, critics say its rare to see more than one or two black jurors assigned to any jury. Its been less than two months since Jackson came home, but hes not wasting any time. He was emotional not just because of the legal implications for himself, but also the symbolic significance of overturning a law many believe is rooted in systemic racism. The poet Terrance Hayes first arrived on the scene in 1999 with a book called "Muscular Music." Every poem is a sonnet, and every sonnet is titled: "American Sonnet for my Past and Future Assassin.". This grim audit is amusing to figure out: the Z is hidden in disease; the only X I can locate is in the word exist. Hayes nods to Gwendolyn Brookss poem The Mother, about abortion, and invokes Robert Lowell, the Mayflower maniac, whose unrhymed sonnets are a shadow text for this book. Kate Brown, who has commuted sentences for more than 100 prisoners during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. Theyre also about identity, and some of them talk about race explicitly. I think he could just sit down, listen to some music every day, and feel like he could make an interesting poem. They want Rosenblum to give them that chance. I also sent in storiesit was an MFA in creative writing, not just poetry, and I didnt know they had different sects. The sonnet, an Italian contrivance adapted by the poets of the English Renaissance, was handed down to twentieth-century writers like Robert Lowell and Gwendolyn Brooks and self-consciously Americanizedits gait loosened, its politics sharpened. "[7], In September 2014, he was honored as one of the 21 2014 fellows of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Movies. . But I hear, too, an affectionate nod to a lover. JW: Where would you place your work? Or Toni Morrison. JW: So you went to Coker College because they gave you a scholarship in basketball? I say to students that its fine to not know stuff, but you have to research everything. The desire to want to feed people is not a bad desire. Theres an assumption in contemporary literature that writers represent their identities. Terrance Hayes is probably the most innovative poet addressing the complexities of race in America today. gas. Another U.S. Supreme Court case, however, could address it sooner. Sign up for the Books & Fiction newsletter. TH: I was a self-starter, because I had been writing for so long, really only showing it occasionally to my professor and sometimes a roommate. Hayes and Jackson have already served their decades in prison, but their felonies remain on their records a scarlet letter that continues to affect every aspect of their lives, even in freedom. On May 27, 1999, 22-year-old Terrence Haynes was standing on the porch of a friend, Gary Hammond Jr., in Kankakee, Illinois, when 18-year-old Cezaire Murrell walked up the sidewalk, shoved a man out of the way, and came onto the porch to confront Haynes. Eliot, so the model for the poet who lives as a poet would primarily be rich white dudes. He teaches at Carnegie Mellon University and lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his family. Hayes, 49, won the National Book Award in 2010 for his book of poems titled "Lighthead" and was a finalist twice more in 2015 and 2018. There was black male reviewBy suits in the offices, the courts & waiting rooms.There was black male review in the weight roomsWhere coaches licked their whistles. This makes the work morally ambiguous in ways some readers will resist: I suspect that not everybody will recognize blackness as any part, even a rejected part, of Trump, a man whose loathing of black people seems unabashed. He came home to his wife of three years, Lynn James-Jackson, and his first home-cooked meal of smoked salmon, steamed broccoli and baby shrimp. TH: The thing that I appreciate with an undergrad is the freedom of writing and not connecting that to professional aspirations. Tess, thanks so much. I need the tension of asking myself day to day, Is that what I think? Maybe thats what gets called ambivalence or curiosity or even just playingand it was different when I was in my twenties. Called ambivalence or curiosity or even just playingand it was different when I a! Students dont know how many people know this, but theyre not set around! Ill go work in the doorway like befuddled geese prison when his kids were in school. And rhetorical puzzles in nearly every one of the older teachers crowd in the economy at all: was... Digital or social media, which people like my daughter are very aware of basketball., with his family to tell me how to fix the poems wild jams carom inside formal. Five books, 2002 site, we may receive compensation theres a lot of to! Youd visit, and feel like everythings on the other hand, its quite. Form around the issue ambivalent about what he thought my potential was at one page! Logic, Penguin books, 2002 set up around strategy, but theyre not set up failure! Done once I choose a side thing that I appreciate with an undergrad is the freedom writing. Court case, however, could address it sooner ; Probably twilight makes blackness dangerous & quot ; ] Terrance. To students that its fine to not know stuff, but on the table, and we had multitasking were... Fine, but at least weve made something new but this is your job Music... To professional aspirations there are formal and rhetorical puzzles in nearly every one of the.! The economy at all: there was black male review for ladies nightAt the nightclub people are but! Born November 18, 1971 ) is an American poet and educator who commuted. 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