The Case of the “Disappearing” Poet | The New Republic

Could we look to poetry, of all places, to lead the way toward more diverse representation? A recent essay by the poet Bob Hicok, "The Promise of American Poetry," suggests that we might do so, as it seems to celebrate the increasing prominence of writers of color in American poetry as a harbinger of cultural change. Originally published in the winter 2018 issue of Michigan Quarterly Review, Hicok's essay caused a stir on social media when republished online by the Utne Reader early this month. Hicok asserts that the "hottest books" of the moment in poetry, "from winners of major literary prizes in recent years to Amazon's ‘Customers Who Bought This Book Also Bought' section," are books by women, poets of color, and LGBT poets. As a result, Hicok argues, "Poetry now is more reflective of the makeup, tensions, desires, and needs of a broader swath of Americans than ever before," a development that he links to the social and political goals of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. "The growing voice of the marginalized," Hicok declares, is "what America should be about."

But what really got people talking was what Hicok-himself a widely respected poet-had to say about what these changes meant for him, as a self-described straight white male writer.