The+Contemporary+Period

One important figure in this era is Michael Harper. His poetry is highly influenced by the jazz sounds of music. Much like Carl Sandburg, Harper attempts to apply these sounds into his poems to create a feeling within the reader and take the experience of reading the poem to a new level. It can be argued that Harper was influenced by other African-American writers that lived before his time. His poems contain a good amount of historical context and allow for the flow of ideas to stream.

In his poem "American History", Harper makes historical illusions to a bombing in an Alabama church and the event where 500 slaves were kept under water. This is an interesting idea because Harper goes through a great time block of black history, which began with the Middle Passage until as recent as the church bombing. Both cases exemplified the oppression of blacks in America. The one line that really sticks in the reader's mind is the last one: "Can't find what you can't see / can you?" (lines 8-9). One can argue that these lines refer to the way that blacks were treated throughout most of American history. People tried to hide any type of evidence that supported the fact that blacks were being unfairly treated, thus the judicial system was blind as to see what was going wrong in the country. Many people did not even see blacks as equal human beings, so they could not even begin to see the oppression that they were suffering, thus they could not hide the injustices that were being committed.

=**Many Ethnicities that Contribute to the Contemporary Period**=

Throughout the middle and late 20th century there was an increasing amount of population from people from around the world. The mass European immigration levels of the 19th century settled down and continued at a slower pace. However, there was an increasing amount of immigration from Latin America and Asia. This has led to many poems about various cultural perspectives and have helped shape and display an American society that is constantly influenced by various parts of the world and continues to change the identity of the American culture. From entertainment, food, media, fashion, etc., the vast ethnic diversity in America has led it to be a nation with the most expansive viewpoints from different cultures of the world. Many of these poets also identify their cultural backgrounds and expand on their experiences in America.

One such poet is Gary Soto who was born in Fresno, California. He not only writes about his ethnicity and his childhood, but he also writes on behalf of the common people and their everyday experiences. In Soto's poem "Afternoon Memory", the scene describes a man who seems to be of middle age and is of the blue-collar working class. The speaker immediately brings to the scene artifacts of the modern kitchen and items that a simple household would contain. The speaker asks a question, "Is this old age? The faucet drips" (line 9). This is a very clever move as the faucet may be representing the passing of the speaker's years as he reflects back to his past. Moreover, the poem contains a good amount of imagery to accompany the crisis that the speaker is experiencing. The speaker goes on farther to describe the condition of his body,"My hair falls as I stand. My lungs are bean plants / Of disappearing air" (17-18). The speaker has some moments where he compares parts of his body to plants. This may suggest that the speaker has an occupation that consists of picking up plants in an extremely hard working condition. The speaker works so hard that he is feeling the effects on his body.

Another poet of this era is Li-Young Lee, who is of Chinese descent. Many of his poems are about his father who was imprisoned for many years, thus many of his poems tend to reflect Lee's attempts to come to terms with his father figure. Lee's longing for his father is highly evident in his poem "Eating Alone". Lee has a good amount of energy with food depicted as one of the main focuses of the poem. What is interesting is that Lee may have used the scene of picking up vegetables and food to display the idea of the father figure who is supposed to provide food for the family. The speaker, who seems to be Lee himself, describes his memories of his father: "Once, years back, I walked beside my father / among the windfall pears. I can't recall / our words. We may have strolled in silence" (lines 8-9). The speaker does not have happy memories of his father and is yearning to remember some positive moments from the past. Moreover, the speaker believes that he sees his father, but to his disappointment it is not him: "I almost / called to him, until I came close enough / to see the shovel, leaning where I had / left it, in the flickering, deep green shade" (16-19). The speaker is willing to reconcile, but it seems as thought his chances have passed, for his father is no longer living.