Nate Mickelson - City Poems and American Urban Crisis: 1945 to the Present

City Poems and American Urban Crisis

Bloomsbury Studies in Critical Poetics

Series Editor

Daniel Katz, University of Warwick, UK

Political, social, erotic, and aestheticpoetry has been a challenge to many of the dominant discourses of our age across the globe. Bloomsbury Studies in Critical Poetics publishes books on modern and contemporary poetry and poetics that explore the intersection of poetry with philosophy, linguistics, psychoanalysis, political and economic theory, protest and liberation movements, as well as other art forms, including prose. With a primary focus on texts written in English but including work from other languages, the series brings together leading and rising scholars from a diverse range of fields for whom poetry has become a vital element of their research.

Editorial Board:

Hlne Aji, University of Paris Ouest-Nanterre, France

Vincent Broqua, University of Paris 8 Vincennes/Saint Denis, France

Olivier Brossard, University of Paris Est Marne La Valle, France

Daniel Kane, University of Sussex, UK

Peter Middleton, University of Southampton, UK

Cristanne Miller, SUNY Buffalo, USA

Miriam Nichols, University of the Fraser Valley, Canada

Aldon Nielsen, Pennsylvania State University, USA

Stephen Ross, University of Warwick, UK; Editor, Wave Composition

Richard Sieburth, New York University, USA

Daniel Tiffany, University of Southern California, USA

Steven G. Yao, Hamilton College, USA

Titles in the Series:

Affect, Psychoanalysis, and American Poetry, John Steen

City Poems and American Urban Crisis, Nate Mickelson

Forthcoming Titles:

A Black Arts Poetry Machine, David Grundy

Lyric Pedagogy and Marxist-Feminism, Samuel Solomon

Queer Troublemakers, Prudence Chamberlain

City Poems and American Urban Crisis

1945 to the Present

Nate Mickelson

BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC

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First published in Great Britain 2019

Copyright Nate Mickelson, 2019

Nate Mickelson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.

For legal purposes the constitute an extension of this copyright page.

Cover design: Eleanor Rose

Cover image Getty Images

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mickelson, Nate, author.

Title: City poems and American urban crisis : 1945 to the present / Nate Mickelson.

Description: London : Bloomsbury Academic, 2019. |

Series: Bloomsbury studies in critical poetics |

Includes bibliographical references and index. |

Identifi ers: LCCN 2018019120 (print) | LCCN 2018021449 (ebook) |

ISBN 9781350055803 (ePub) | ISBN 9781350055797 (ePDF) |

ISBN 9781350055780 (hardback)

Subjects: LCSH: American poetry20th centuryHistory and criticism. |

Cities and towns in literature. | Urban poor in literature. | Civil rights in literature.

Classifi cation: LCC PS310.C58 (ebook) | LCC PS310.C58 M53 2019 (print) |

DDC 811/.509321732dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018019120

ISBN: HB: 978-1-3500-5578-0

ePDF: 978-1-3500-5579-7

eBook: 978-1-3500-5580-3

Series: Bloomsbury Studies in Critical Poetics

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Within each of us there is some piece of humanness that knows we are not being served by the machine which orchestrates crisis after crisis and is grinding all our futures into dust.

Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider

Contents

My work on City Poems has benefited from the kind encouragement of more colleagues and friends than I can name. The book would not have been possible without their support.

The editors and staff at Bloomsbury have provided clear and enthusiastic guidance throughout the publication process. I thank them for their patience with my questions and the support they have offered along the way. Series editor Dan Katz pushed me to stand behind my arguments. His strong advocacy for cross-disciplinary thinking has made me a better scholar.

City Poems started as my dissertation at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. I could not have begun the project without the support of my committee. I am indebted to my adviser and committee chair, Ammiel Alcalay, for support, guidance, and encouragement provided at all stages of this project. Ammiel opened more lines of inquiry than I will be able to pursue in three careers. Tom Angotti helped me identify urban planning resources early. I am grateful for the time and energy he offered to help me refine my understanding of city planning. David Richter supervised an orals list I devised on hermeneutics. Our conversations then and since then have enhanced the way I read. In addition to the members of my committee, I also owe debts to the English faculty at the Graduate Center and Hunter College, including Mario DiGangi, who gave me confidence to pursue an interdisciplinary project; David Greetham, who encouraged my investigation of Brooklyn Bridge Park; and Jeff Allred and Gary Schmidgall, who supervised my masters thesis and convinced me I had something to say. I would not have finished this project without the advice and friendship of my fellow students in the English program, especially Megan Paslawski, Erin Nicholson Gale, Charlotte Thurston, David Letzler, and their partners.

I had the good fortune as a graduate student to contribute to the founding of Stella and Charles Guttman Community College. I appreciate the trust Toni Gifford, Tracy Meade, Stuart Cochran, and Scott Evenbeck placed in me and the guidance Howard Wach, Marissa Schlesinger, Elisa Hertz, and Carolee Ramsay have provided in ensuing years. The unfailing personal and professional support of Nicola Blake, Tracy Daraviras, Forest Fisher, and Molly Makris has been more important than they know. Guttman students teach me every day that in order to read a poem you have to make it your own. City Poems is dedicated to the memory of my student, Shawn Depusoir.

Beyond Guttman, Caity kept me on my feet at crucial moments, Emily modeled thoughtful engagement with the world, James insisted I could finish the dissertation and now the book, and Robert challenged me to listen for and commit to the ideas hiding in my words. Most importantly, I thank my family, Diane, Mark, Joshua, Bill, Katie, Reanne, Xander, Pixie, and little Elizabeth, for giving me the courage start on this path. No doubt there is something of Wyoming in my readings. My husband, Sameer, has boundless patience and energy. His questions sustain me in my work and remind me of the deeper meanings to be found in the everyday.