Entry 7: Neighbor Procedure…
When I first read this Neighbor Procedure, I found myself extraordinarily frustrated. Aside from the occasional news broadcast or newspaper article, I have to admit that I do not know a lot about the Israel-Palestine conflict. I still do not know a lot about it, but I have learned a good deal more since reading this. As with Brathwaite, I think part of the author’s purpose is to make you learn about the events being written about. It seems like Zolf’s book is a mixture of techniques we have seen by other author’s so far.
Zolf has a poem similar to the Bergvall poem we looked at. In “Messanger” Zolf takes a verse from the Quran and gives 10 translations all with very different meanings. I always find it interesting when I see different translations of religious texts. These types of texts are taken very seriously by many people and just this small sampling shows how religious teachings can be swayed by connotation.
Book of Comparisons, I believe, is a sort of “found poem” (if I read her explanation correctly) similar to what Nourbese Philip did in “Zong!” That, however, is as far as I can go with this one. I am still contemplating meaning in this poem.
One thing we have not seen before is the connecting of poems she does in “Nominal,” “Grievable,” and “Did not Participate in Hostilities.” I was particularly frustrated by these poems before reading her “Afterthought.” Until then I was horribly confused by these names, numbers, and actions. After reading it I was a little horrified at what the combinations meant. I see that without all of the context those individuals’ stories are forgotten; they have no meaning. Part of what Zolf is doing with this book is bringing awareness to both sides of the conflict. I think the overall confusion after reading the book but before reading the afterthought, is intended to evoke the feeling of the conflict itself.
(Side Note: I have read a few articles and personal stories about the “BirthRight” trips and they still baffle me.)
Not exactly a scholarly article but I found this article very helpful in trying to understand “BirthRight”
So I hope we have a chance to discuss audience and purpose. My sense is that some poems attempt to teach us what we need to oknow about the subject (in terms of background knowledge) and others may presume this in order to make a kind of commentary on it. There may be other options. But I think it is very hard to get the “news”on Palestine from this poem.