Prison ecopoetics: concrete, imagined, and textual spaces in American inmate poetry

Abstract

Bell Gale Chevigny writes, in prison ‘[n]ature is the more valued for its scarcity’, yet very little work has been done on the ways inmates engage with environments. Continually confronted by a lack of multidimensional environmental experiences, the prisoner is more aware and more conscious of the complex and often invisible ways in which environments manifest themselves. As such, I contend that there is an ecopoetics of prison poetry that results from the inmate’s hyper-awareness of environmental encounter and the various forms in which that can arrive. By acknowledging and embracing this new forum for ecopoetic studies, we not only become more conscious of the ways in which American inmates respond and express their confinement but also uncover the disconnections between traditional ideas of nature and ecopoetics. This article will consider a variety of anthologised prison poets and the ways in which they engage with ecopoetics.

Keywords:

• ecopoetics
• American poetry
• prison poetry
• poetry
• poetics

Notes

1. Reprinted from Doing Time: 25 Years of Prison Writing by permission of Arcade Publishing, and imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

2. As a key term in this argument, it is important to realise the subtle distinctions between ecopoetics and ecopoetry – two terms that are often used interchangeably. While many scholars view these two terms in the same way, ecopoetry properly refers to a genre of poetry itself and is often interpreted widely by poets and scholars as a genre that engages specifically with environmentalism through nature and environmental activism, often by means of poetic experimentation. Ecopoetics, on the other hand, is a theoretical mode that considers the ways in which poets capture the complexity and simultaneity of lived experience through language and form. In other words, ecopoetics is a reading practice that considers how environing elements of space, memory, history and nature become legible within poetic expression, rather than looking solely at the influence of the physical world.

3. Aaron Moe’s article on E.E. Cummings entitled ‘Cummings’s Urban Ecology: An Exploration of EIMI, No Thanks, and the Cultivation of the Ecological Self’ and Sharla Hutchison’s study of Marianne Moore, ‘The Eco-Poetics of Marianne Moore’s “The Sycamore”’, both appeared in the Autumn (2011) (18.4) issue of ISLE. Kirstin Hotelling Zona’s article on Mary Oliver, ‘“An Attitude of Noticing”: Mary Oliver’s Ecological Ethic’, appeared in the Summer (2011) (18.1) issue of ISLE.

4. There are a number of collections of prison writing, but not specifically of prison poetry.

5. Although not applicable to this discussion of American prison ecopoetics, it should be noted that Lavinia-Ileana Geambei’s (2012) published conference presentation titled ‘Nature-Imagery in the Poetry of Communist Prisons’ does consider how traditional concepts of nature make their way into inmate poetry.

6. Printed with permission from George Mosby, Jr’s estate.

7. Printed with permission of the editor, Joseph Bruchac.

8. Although we have made every reasonable effort to locate Michelle Roberts to confirm copyright ownership and obtain formal written permission to reproduce the poem, we have been unable to do so. If Michelle Roberts declares in future, we shall arrange to publish a Corrigendum to reflect Michelle Robert’s attribution of copyright.

9. Although we have made every reasonable effort to locate Mark Knoll to confirm copyright ownership and obtain formal written permission to reproduce the poem, we have been unable to do so. If Mark Knoll declares in future, we shall arrange to publish a Corrigendum to reflect Mark Knoll’s attribution of copyright.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sarah Nolan

Sarah Nolan is a doctoral candidate at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she works on American poetry and ecopoetics. Her dissertation considers new applications for ecopoetic theory through its appearance in unlikely environments.