The Politics of Reading Faulkner
___________________________________________
Reading Faulkner
“an attenuated form of
sibling incest in which
taboos or race, region,
and class are defied”
—Karl Zender, “The Politics
of Incest,” Faulkner and
the politics of Reading
like the gym story—
the way the deep south entered
my imagination
triggering my id—
with domestic anecdotes
there in my closet
faulkner’s novels came—
creeping into me thru the
politics of reading
an old gay barber—
at the air base by the pool
the officer’s club
sensing i was gay—
my father stationed down there
in louisiana
shreveport way up north—
in redneck territory
unlike new orleans
cutting my hair and—
telling this story of
a baton rouge gay
they murdered this fag—
throwing him off the big bridge
into the mississippi
naturally I freaked—
gay murder stories weren’t my
cup of tea back then
then in baton rouge—
there on campus next story
the gay queer gym coach one
the one about the—
guy going down on the young
young janitor kid
that’s how southern lit—
with its storytelling ways
told me gay folk tales…
after that it was—
miss faulkner’s turn reading me
like me reading her
we’d have séances—
like quentin & shreve there in
the cold harvard dorms
TSATF—
then absalom, absalom
entering the past
faulkner retelling—
quentin’s story just for me
bon & henry’s too
knowing that I was—
tres gay like quentin compson
hots for dalton ames
knowing that I was—
into miscegenal love
like buck & billy
knowing that I had—
a mulatto kid brother
like charles bon
a writer’s oeuvre—
a lifelong writing project
of storytelling
writers change with time—
faulkner’s despair grew deeper
he mourned the deep south
attack or praise it—
“I don’t hate the South”
love it or hate it…
the tragedy of—
male psychic power &
imperialism
the déclassé jim bond—
judith sutpen as victim
roth’s young black lover
the white male psyche—
the whole male-dominated
social order still…
Writing Faulkner
“the chinks and cracks
of masculinity, the fissures
of male identity and
the repression of phallic
discourse”
—Terresa De Laurentis,
“Feminism and Faulkner,”
Faulkner Journal 4 1999
he could write again—
he began listening to
benjy, quentin, caddy
they spoke to him late—
in the rowan oaks darkness
sipping his whiskey
a delta autumn—
calmness helped him write again
rereading himself
i’ve been there as well—
reading my family ledgers
like ike in the dark
they told a story—
like young roth edmund’s story
about his lover
she came to the camp—
tennie jim’s granddaughter
there with all the men
isaac with his own—
troubled miscegenal past
his own dinge ledgers
the old blood story—
the l.q.c. mccaslin curse
running thru them all
the incest motif—
imagined by miss shelley
“laon and cythna”
“siblinghood” bleeding—
into dinge brotherhood, sex
there in tiger town
Living Faulkner
“Old man,” she said,
“have you lived so long
and forgotten so much
that you don’t remember
anything you ever knew
or even heard about love?”
—William Faulkner,
Go Down, Moses
i was like isaac—
i was like jacob wrestling
with young dark angels
getting into bon—
sexual racial taboos
delta male bonding
zender mentions how—
absalom written during
popular front heydays
the freudian left—
pushing against fascism
spanish civil war
faulkner donating—
absalom manuscript for
auction to raise dough
against the nazis—
for the spanish loyalists
(see blotner’s bio)
me in tigertown—
during the Vietnam war
living with two blacks
the gay hippie left—
my answer to postwar angst
war economy
fascism back then—
iraq, libya, afghan now
the same old story
the same old story—
nothing really has changed much—
tragic male psyche
storytelling it—
thru all his gothic novels
delta noir despair
faulkner writing it—
male imperialism
does it ever end?
___________________________________________
Reading Faulkner
“an attenuated form of
sibling incest in which
taboos or race, region,
and class are defied”
—Karl Zender, “The Politics
of Incest,” Faulkner and
the politics of Reading
like the gym story—
the way the deep south entered
my imagination
triggering my id—
with domestic anecdotes
there in my closet
faulkner’s novels came—
creeping into me thru the
politics of reading
an old gay barber—
at the air base by the pool
the officer’s club
sensing i was gay—
my father stationed down there
in louisiana
shreveport way up north—
in redneck territory
unlike new orleans
cutting my hair and—
telling this story of
a baton rouge gay
they murdered this fag—
throwing him off the big bridge
into the mississippi
naturally I freaked—
gay murder stories weren’t my
cup of tea back then
then in baton rouge—
there on campus next story
the gay queer gym coach one
the one about the—
guy going down on the young
young janitor kid
that’s how southern lit—
with its storytelling ways
told me gay folk tales…
after that it was—
miss faulkner’s turn reading me
like me reading her
we’d have séances—
like quentin & shreve there in
the cold harvard dorms
TSATF—
then absalom, absalom
entering the past
faulkner retelling—
quentin’s story just for me
bon & henry’s too
knowing that I was—
tres gay like quentin compson
hots for dalton ames
knowing that I was—
into miscegenal love
like buck & billy
knowing that I had—
a mulatto kid brother
like charles bon
a writer’s oeuvre—
a lifelong writing project
of storytelling
writers change with time—
faulkner’s despair grew deeper
he mourned the deep south
attack or praise it—
“I don’t hate the South”
love it or hate it…
the tragedy of—
male psychic power &
imperialism
the déclassé jim bond—
judith sutpen as victim
roth’s young black lover
the white male psyche—
the whole male-dominated
social order still…
Writing Faulkner
“the chinks and cracks
of masculinity, the fissures
of male identity and
the repression of phallic
discourse”
—Terresa De Laurentis,
“Feminism and Faulkner,”
Faulkner Journal 4 1999
he could write again—
he began listening to
benjy, quentin, caddy
they spoke to him late—
in the rowan oaks darkness
sipping his whiskey
a delta autumn—
calmness helped him write again
rereading himself
i’ve been there as well—
reading my family ledgers
like ike in the dark
they told a story—
like young roth edmund’s story
about his lover
she came to the camp—
tennie jim’s granddaughter
there with all the men
isaac with his own—
troubled miscegenal past
his own dinge ledgers
the old blood story—
the l.q.c. mccaslin curse
running thru them all
the incest motif—
imagined by miss shelley
“laon and cythna”
“siblinghood” bleeding—
into dinge brotherhood, sex
there in tiger town
Living Faulkner
“Old man,” she said,
“have you lived so long
and forgotten so much
that you don’t remember
anything you ever knew
or even heard about love?”
—William Faulkner,
Go Down, Moses
i was like isaac—
i was like jacob wrestling
with young dark angels
getting into bon—
sexual racial taboos
delta male bonding
zender mentions how—
absalom written during
popular front heydays
the freudian left—
pushing against fascism
spanish civil war
faulkner donating—
absalom manuscript for
auction to raise dough
against the nazis—
for the spanish loyalists
(see blotner’s bio)
me in tigertown—
during the Vietnam war
living with two blacks
the gay hippie left—
my answer to postwar angst
war economy
fascism back then—
iraq, libya, afghan now
the same old story
the same old story—
nothing really has changed much—
tragic male psyche
storytelling it—
thru all his gothic novels
delta noir despair
faulkner writing it—
male imperialism
does it ever end?
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