¶ … artist must take a stance in the world. He or she must present himself from a vantage point, a perspective, that identifies him or herself and from which he is able to convey his or her sentiments about whatever topic is at hand. This sense of identity and the vantage point it affords Lucille Clifton and Etheridge Knight are fairly obvious in their poems "adam thinking" and "The Violent Space (or when your sister sleeps for money)," respectively. It is also what would more than likely cause Groddeck to say that their poetry is that of a dying tradition.
This fact is certainly true in Clifton's poem. This poem is clearly written from a feminist perspective which is not at all inclusive of the democratic values that Groddeck celebrates. The interesting thing is that although this poem champions feminist values, it is narrated from the perspective of a man. Moreover, it is narrated from the first man in existence, Adam, whose rib was allegedly...
Virtually all of the connotations of Adam's references to Eve and to womankind are negative, which merely reinforce the feminist notion that men are oppressors, do not truly like them, have little use for them etc. Eve is described as "stolen" (Clifton) from Adam's rib; the negative connotation of this word implies that Eve has done something wrong even in her initial act of creation. Additionally, Adam wants to put his rib back where it was before Eve was created, so that Adam can "be whole again" (Clifton). This passage implies that Adam has effectively lost something via the creation of Eve, and is somehow wrong or not proper since he is no longer whole. All of these negative connotations attest to sentiments of which feminists readily accuse men. As such, it is not inclusive of the new tradition of democracy that Groddeck proclaims has emerged in America, since it is so firmly entrenched in the author's…
