City Poems and American Urban Crisis: 1945 to the Present

by Nate Mickelson, Daniel Katz (Editor)

Overview

From William Carlos Williams and Allen Ginsberg to Miguel Algarín and Wanda Coleman, this groundbreaking book explores the ways in which contemporary poets have engaged with America's changing urban experience since 1945. City Poems and American Urban Crisisbrings post-war American poetry into conversation with developments in city planning, activism, and urban theory to demonstrate that taking city poetry seriously as a mode of analysis and critique can enhance our attempts to produce more just and equitable urban futures.

Poets covered include: Miguel Algarín, Gwendolyn Brooks, Wanda Coleman, Allen Ginsberg, Lewis MacAdams, Charles Olson, George Oppen, and William Carlos Williams.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350166295
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/28/2020
Series:	Bloomsbury Studies in Critical Poetics
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.52(d)

About the Author

Nate Mickelson is Assistant Professor of English and City Seminar Coordinator at Stella and Charles Guttman Community College, City University of New York, USA.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations

Introduction: City Poems and American Urban Crisis
1. Writing Around Williams: Patersonand Experimental Urban Poetics
2. Community and Crisis in Los Angeles Poetry
3. The "Curious" Languages of New York: George Oppen and Critical Urban Theory
4. Reading "Bronzeville": Poetics of Neighborhood I
5. Organizing "El Barrio" and the "Loisaida": Poetics of Neighborhood II
6. Poetry and Progressive Planning

References
Index

Editorial Reviews

A refreshing text which uses poetry about the city as an entry point to engage the imagination in understanding cities and also imagining what they could be ... Nate Mickelson has created an inspiring text that can help empower readers and their communities ... a worthwhile read for planners, poets, community activists and anyone wishing to be inspired to create the existing and future worlds in their mind.
Progressive City

From the Publisher