Poetry is Not a Game

Claudia Rankine's Citizen is a unique and dynamic piece of poetry. I really enjoy reading Citizen because not only are there pictures (that are more meaningful that one may think), but also the stories she tells are actually interesting. I think that since this book relates to a current issue, people, including myself, take their time reading and trying to actually understand the viewpoint instead of trying to understand the plot. Citizen also does not really have a plot line. It an array of various stories that all relate to the same topic. Race. 

I think the most interesting stories I have read is the Serena Williams section. I like to watch tennis and I follow Serena Williams. However, I was unaware of the hardships she encountered. I never really thought that race would affect the game in 2004 or 2009. I think one of the most captivating quotations from that story is about the physical memory of that incident.

"Yes, and the body has memory. The physical carriage hauls more than its weight. The body is the threshold across which each objectionable call passes into consciousness-- all the unintimidated, unblinking, and unflappable resilience does not erase the moment lived through, even as we are eternally stupid or everlastingly optimistic, so ready to be inside, among, a part of the games" (28). 

Serena will remember the moments when she was discriminated because those things can not be forgotten. For every bad call that was made, it added onto the carriage (Serena's body). Her outbursts are every time the carriage is too heavy. I think this line proves that Citizen is poetry. According to Perrine, it does convey an experience. Rankine's uses Serena's story to help the reader understand the importance of an experience.