QueerSexWords*
Caseyrenée
Lopez
2016
Yellow
Chair Press
Waco,
TX
$10.00
Reviewed
by Clara B. Jones
Recently,,
I have given serious thought to my ongoing interest in reviewing
books by LGBT and non-binary poets. As a hetero-normative, somewhat
conventional, female, it has crossed my mind that I may be
trespassing on territory that is not my own and appropriating
material that does not belong to me. In spite of these concerns, I
have, also, been aware of my longstanding comfort with gay, lesbian,
non-binary, and transgender friends. I have never felt an unnatural
association nor have I considered these individuals different in any
sense other than that each of us has a unique identity. Another
source of comfort has been the affinity I feel with the “queer”
world because, as a person of color, I am, also, an “Other” in
American society. Reading Caseyrenée
Lopez' first chapbook, QueerSexWords,
led me to another, surprising, yet, reinforcing, insight. Like
Caseyrenée,
I am, also, a “sexual minority” because, for almost twenty years,
I have had a celibate lifestyle based on Wabi-Sabi, minimalist
philosophy. This identity feels authentic to me, removing any feeling
that I am an imposter when I review work by other “sexual
minorities,” whatever their conscious, personal identifications
might be.
I
have learned a lot about myself and others by reviewing Lopez'
chapbook. The author is Editor and Publisher of Damaged Goods Press,
and my thinking about identity and identity politics, as well as, sex
and gender, has been enhanced, even, changed, because of the
“interpretive power” [Helen Vendler's term] of the poet's volume.
Lopez has developed a “queer femme” identity—non-binary and
feminine at the same time. In an e-mail interview with me, Lopez
shared information about the poetry practice that they have embraced.
The author has written poetry “seriously” for about two years.
They continued, “I realized that I was drawn to poetry and
experimentation with form and language. I, also, started discovering
how contemporary feminist poetry uses trauma in writing and writing
as catharsis. I've since gained the strength to deal with my own
violence and to come to terms with my history.” Using writing for
these purposes, Lopez' poems are vulnerable without exhibiting
self-pity, and they communicate the capacity for resilience and
personal growth. The author is married to a transgendered individual,
and their relationship is the focus of several moving poems.
Lopez'
forms are highly experimental in ways that I have not seen in
combination before, including, “found” work, creative use of
space, repetition [especially, variations of the word, “finger,”
perhaps, suggesting a tool, like braille, for deciphering the world:
“/paths leading to the lines that flow from my warm fingertips”],
as well as other conventions [breaking words with dashes and
inserting white spaces between syllables: “/Being the/Pragmatists
that/we are—/We're completely/Aware...”; “/Light
breathing/shrouds/womanhood/in un attainable,/pre con ceive d
notions...”]. These are only a sample of the poet's innovations,
that, when taken together, imply a mature poetics and that situate
the author with other innovative female poets among whom Rachel Blau
Duplessis comes first to mind. Related to Lopez' innovative skills,
their prose poems are the best that I have read in a very long time,
comparable in, in my opinion, to the work of prose poet, and, openly
lesbian, Holly Iglesias.
Most
of the experimental female poets of whom I am aware write/wrote
"associative" poetry strongly bound to Modernism [e.g.,
Gertrude Stein], the post-war period that challenged classical
conventions in form and language. Lopez' work is more closely
affiliated with later female innovators who might be classified as
Post-modern or Post-structuralist in the Language School, the Beats,
the New York School, and, to some degree, the Black Arts Movement.
These poets [Diane di Prima, Susan Howe, Eileen Myles, Gloria
Evangelina Anzaldúa,
Sonia Sanchez, others] “push the envelope” and write their own
rules, leaving interpretation in the reader's hands.
In my interview with Lopez, Fatima Asghar, Lisa Marie Basile, and
Lora Mathis were mentioned as significant influences. According to
the author, “Mathis's The Women Widowed to Themselves is “an
excellent exploration of femininity, the self, and recovery from
abuse.” Lopez has, also, identified with Mathis' “concept of
'radical softness'” and Asghar's “ferocity and authenticity” in
the book, After. Throughout QueerSexWords I had the
sense, not only, that the author is engaged in a process of
constructing her own identity but of constructing innovative ways for
feminists to view themselves and interpret their experiences. For
example, “/...Desecrated,/my former self—/tattered &
lonely—/left to wilt underfoot,/as a dead girl rising from the
grave.”
As a trained scientist, I was struck by Lopez' many references to
Science and scientists, indicating a concern for objectivity
[perhaps, detachment?], order, relief from emotion, and
classification. Indeed, the cover illustration of the author's
chapbook is a human heart, highlighting an interest in anatomy. In
Lopez' erotic poem, “The Kiss” [after the title of one of Gustav
Klimt's paintings], the work of astronomer, Stephen Hawking, and
physicist, Einstein, are mentioned, highlighting Lopez' utopian view
of love as “radiation and photons” and “/a mushroom/Cloud.../”
reminiscent, perhaps, of a cosmic explosion [the allusion to orgasm
is obvious]. On the other hand, in several poems [see, “Hands”],
the author seems to say that relationships are finite and infinite at
the same time and that she is still in the process of trying to
understand her life, her relationship, and, perhaps, existence,
itself [see,“Antidepressant”]. This lack of finitude acknowledges
that, as Post-structuralists [e.g., Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick; Judith
Butler] put it, identity is “fractured” and complex, though not,
necessarily, that identity is bro ken, un-natural, or ab-normal.
I would be remiss not to point out that, according to critics such as
Jacek Kornak¹, there is
no consensus about what “queer” means except in the broadest
senses of “sexual minority” or the “Other.” Kornak documents
variations in the use of the term since the 1960s [especially, Paul
Goodman] and beyond [Stonewall, Act-Up, etc.]. Apparently, the
history of this term was, until the 1980s, primarily, associated with
and dominated by gay men's movements; though, Kornak points out that
lesbian groups existed in every period. The critic notes that a
project, The Lesbian Herstory Archive, is housed in New York City,
existing, among other reasons, as a recovery project of texts,
biographies, and other documentation. Kornak, also, makes it clear
that, in many cases, “queer” activists and Queer Theorists from
the academic realm use the term differently and, sometimes, in
opposition. As an aside, Lopez, as well as some other “queer”
poets [e.g., Maggie Nelson] appear resistant to or opposed to Queer
Theory and academic treatments of “queer” topics, and I hope
that, in future, Lopez will expand on her views regarding the role[s]
of theory relative to “queer” identity. Unfortunately, even
though Kornak's study is recent, there is virtually no analysis of
the use of the term, “queer,” in the transgender, non-binary, and
related communities. Further, Lopez' use of “queer femme”
introduces several issues to discussions about what “queer”
means, such as, non-identification with biological sex while, at the
same time, maintaining identification with normative traits [e.g.,
“feminine”: “/Just as it should be, as we're meant to be, a
dying breed of/hyper-corrective classical love.”].
The reader is not to assume, however, that Lopez' “femininity” is
an imitation of hetero-normativity, since the author is clear to
point out that, in the sense that it is used in QueerSexWords,
“queer” is employed as a political as well as a personal
statement [“/...the ven eer of
/womanhood/as prescribed/by/patriarchy.”]. As mentioned at the
beginning of this review, Lopez' chapbook is characterized by
“interpretive power,” permitting the reader, not only, to reflect
upon the author's perspectives, but, also, the perspectives of the
readers themselves. This chapbook is an important work that deserves
to be read by anyone interested in sex, gender, non-binarism, and any
other type of personal, social, and political identification. Indeed,
this chapbook shows us that the definition of what it means to be
Human is evolving, under control of the Self rather than authorities.
¹Kornak J
(2015) Queer as a political concept.
Ph.D. Dissertation, Gender Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland,
pp 211. (available online)
*Originally appearing in Yellow Chair Review, 2016
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