On the Integrity of Speech and Silence
Chapter in Mary di Michele, Essays on Her Works Joseph Pivato, ed. Toronto: Guernica, 2007, pp. 36-57
13 Pages Posted: 1 Feb 2016
Date Written: January 29, 2007
Abstract
The Primer, the first poem of Luminous Emergencies, is a watershed for Mary di Michele. As the title suggests, this poem marks a point of departure for her. It comes at a time when she is turning to new subject matter and to new forms of writing; indeed, the beginnings of such a shift are evident even in this volume, in the Chilean poems, and in the prose poem, The Body at the End of the World. Such works form early bridges between di Michele's early poetry and her later explorations in prose. More my concern here, however, The Primer marks a turning point in di Michele's exploration of the confessional form. It is at once the most sophisticated of her confessional poems and a farewell to the form as she has used it. Just as The Primer marks a point of departure for di Michele so too it would seem to serve as an excellent point of entry into her work. Or it would, if it were not for the fact that my opening this discus- sion with The Primer is like diving into a pool at the deep end. For this poem raises and scrutinizes the knotty issues at the heart of di Michele's early poetics: the discursive politics of the confession, for example, and the related and equally problematic issue of the poet's integrity. Their significance in relation to di Michele's work requires further explanation.
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