Dossier

This dossier on race and innovation collects a diverse group of poets who engage the following questions in their work: Is there something about innovation or experimentation that gives race a new name, a new dimension? Is there room for difficult (sometimes painful) racial humor? Is there something about being “of a darker hue” and the accompanying social experience in the world that compels an increasing number of writers of color to dance in the fields of experiment, play, irony, and other boundary-pushing modes? In other words, what use are innovative forms and approaches in telling raced or unraced stories by raced subjects? Conversely, what is at stake for the white writer who takes up racial subjects without hedging, pleasing, or apologizing? Lastly, is there something about the contemporary moment that necessitates working outside conventional constraints?