Contemporary Poetry

: a web symposium  |  Spring 2006

Don’t Let Me Be Lonely by Claudia Rankine
Graywolf Press, 2004

Claudia Rankine sets herself apart from poets of the past as well as her contemporaries in her depiction of modern American culture by including a montage of poems, prose poems, and images. Throughout her fourth collection, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely, Rankine sets out to prove modernity’s negative effect on both personal and political aspects of modern life, drawing on images of technology, pop culture, and the media. Using these images as well as the concise yet expressive and personal prose poem, Rankine focuses on modernity’s triumph over life by discussing death, depression, and a hopelessness caused by modern politics.

Rankine presents these themes in an unconventional manner as she weaves together actual photographs and images with prose poems. Breaking the collection into eighteen sections, each separated by an image of a television tuned to static, the poet leaves ambiguous whether each section is one poem, or many poems grouped by similar themes. Placing these images within the text effectively catches the reader attention, and causes an increased focus on the concept of technology and modernity. Rankine’s use of the prose poem aids in providing a straightforward yet multi-dimensional text which contributes greatly to the comprehensive fabric of her work as a whole.

By giving many of her poems a tone of morbidity, Rankine offers a rather bleak and pessimistic view of American life. She alludes to the notion that modernity, despite all its innovation, does not alter the inevitability of death. This morbid theme is exemplified in her poem [Or say the eyes are resting]. Here, Rankine depicts the inevitability of death through a fateful diagnosis of the speaker’s friend. Rankine’s dying character is initially misdiagnosed before being diagnosed with breast cancer. This idea, coupled with the image of a mammogram which the poet weaves into her poem, rather unsubtly suggests the inability of medical innovation to effectively save lives. The speaker wonders, “Can we say she might have lived had her doctor not screwed up?” (8). Rankine’s use of the mammogram image physically draws the reader’s eye to focus on the technological aspect of medicine, rather than on the more personal aspect of life itself, subsequently highlighting her focus on technologies negative effect on human life.

Within this poem, Rankine also draws upon the modern focus on the superficial which, even in the face of mortality, seems to become a principal concern. The poem includes a surgeon’s suggestion to reconstruct the breast of a woman who had just undergone a mastectomy. Noting that this would add “an extra day to her hospital stay” (8) Rankine suggests a focus on the modern concept of superficiality enhanced by technology. This concept again triumphs over a focus on life, as the character depicted spends one of her few remaining days in the hospital for what appears to be a cosmetic surgery. The character is forced by modern expectations of society to spend more time lying in the hospital awaiting death rather than out in the world living her life.

Rankine’s morbid focus seeps into other themes running throughout her work. In addition to focusing many of her poems around the concept of death, the poet provides her reader with an assessment of an increasingly common American difficulty: depression. Using this theme, she is able to depict another aspect of modernity’s negative effect on human life. Rankine presents images of technology in [In the nights I watch television…] as she depicts an insomniac speaker who focuses her sleepless hours around television and, more specifically, television advertisements for anti-depressant medication. The speaker is intrigued by this message running across the television screen: “YOUR LIFE IS WAITING” (29). The speaker wonders “for what, for what does it wait? For life I guess.” The message, part of an advertisement for the anti-depressant, PAXIL, epitomizes Rankine’s theme of technology’s triumph over life. While the depressed speaker sits up at night glaring at this message on the television, her life goes on, leading the reader to believe she is in many ways missing out on living her life. The same speaker seems to spill into the next poem where she discusses her unsuccessful attempts at alleviating depression through the use of medication. Her doctor’s willingness to encourage her to take an increased amount of medication each day in addition to her pharmacist’s eventual agreement to provide the speaker with more pills than authorized suggests the acceptability of prescribing anti-depressant medication. Here, Rankine seems to be commenting on the American tendency to over-prescribe. The speaker does not believe her medication to be having a positive effect, suggesting again, the notion of modern innovation having no control over these issues of death and depression.

Rankine’s depiction of the modern effect on humanity is not limited to its focus around death and depression, as she relates this concept to American government and politics. Again through the use of prose poem Rankine indiscreetly provides a commentary regarding American politics. Many of her works include reference to current political tribulations and agendas, providing a glimpse into her cynical view of American politics and its repercussions on the individual. In her poem [Cornel West makes the point…] Rankine weaves the concept of hope together with political matters by referencing a connection between her loss of hope and the election of George W. Bush. The speaker notes, “After the initial results come in, I stop watching the news…I lose hope” (21). Rankine also references the words of Cornel West, a self proclaimed “non-Marxist socialist” and an avid protestor of the Bush campaign who signed a “Vote to Stop Bush” statement during the 2004 presidential race.

In addition, the speaker discusses a loss of hope coupled with the confusion of the results of the 2000 election, perhaps suggesting a discomfort with the way in which the American electoral system operates.

To provide a commentary on the Bush administration and modern American politics as a whole Rankine focuses this poem around a specific instance by highlighting an incident in which Bush could not “remember if two or three people were convicted for dragging a black man to his death in his home state of Texas” (21). In the following paragraph, Rankine highlights the speaker’s thoughts regarding this incident through the use of repetition and italics, “You don’t remember because you don’t care” (21). Coupled with a black and white photo of what appears to be men and woman observing blood stained asphalt, this poem draws its reader through subtly violent images, while highlights a contrast between black and white, and presenting the speaker’s clear dismay for the current American government.

Rankine adds to her political discussion later in her compilation in [To roll over or not to roll over that IRA?] Here Rankine draws upon the classical as she uses the foundation of Hamlet’s words “To be or not to be” in referencing modern objects and ideas such as “IRA,” “iMacs” and “eTrading,” creating a juxtaposition between these past and present concepts. Rankine continues by distinguishing the twenty-first century from those before it by drawing upon images associated with the 1990s then noting, “Now it is the twenty-first century and either you are with us or you are against us. Where is your flag?” (91). Here, Rankine depicts the post-September 11, 2001 American mentality by providing a photo of a man holding an American flag. This brings the focus to American unity, which in this instance, Rankine depicts in a negative light using an ironic tone to cite that “we can condemn because we love our country…” Drawing her poem to a close, Rankine transcribes words spoken to the speaker regarding this American mentality, “What’s all this about detaining hundred of people and monitoring lawyer-client conversations? Who do we think we are? China?” (91). It becomes clear that Rankine’s depiction of the current state of the United States is one of contention, showing the nation to be bordering fascism in its post-September 11 persecutions.

Rankine’s depiction of the American politics seems to rely heavily upon pessimism and an overall lack of hope. The poet seeks to provide her reader with a negative commentary of the American political agenda, once again drawing upon the negative effects which modernity seems to have on humanity.

Through her unconventional tactics, Rankine has distinguished herself among twenty-first century poets. Her depiction of modernity through the use of technological images and present day concerns, truly provides her reader with a commentary on modern American society, while also placing her within her time. In addition, her work in prose poem, a relatively rare medium of expression, may one day be built upon by a new era of poets.

Further Reading

By The Author

Rankine, Claudia. Nothing in Nature Is Private. Cleveland Poetry Center , 1995.

Rankine, Claudia. Plot. Grove Press Poetry, 2001.

Rankine, Claudia. The End of the Alphabet. Grove Press Poetry, 1998.

About the Author

Burt, Stephen. “The Eliptical Poets.” American Letters and Commentary 11 (2004).

“The Academy of American Poets: Claudia Rankine.” Poets.Org. The Academy of American Poets. 04 May 2006 http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/469

“The Poetry Center At Smith College: Claudia Rankine.” The Poetry Center At Smith College. Smith College. 04 May 2006. http://www.smith.edu/poetrycenter/bios.php?name=crankine