Bodies, Bodies, Bodies: The Community and Aesthetics of Teen Poetry

There’s a fine line between poetry and teen poetry, something that I’ve always strived to understand in my personal journey as an author.

If you’re looking for the former, well, we see it everywhere—in English classes, magazines, usually rhymed or in form—but the latter requires some digging. Youngarts. Scholastic. Foyle. Magazines like Adroit, Diode, Tinderbox: these are unfamiliar and alien to the normal person, but for a certain community of young writers across the globe, these works constitute a new, broad movement in literature that has allowed them to explore their identity or the world around them.

Ocean Vuong, Ren Hang, and other Aesthetics

Defined in romantic ideals, today’s teen writing movement largely departs from the traditional, meter-and-foot stylistic dance that many dredge up in their notions of poetry and prose. Instead, much of today’s poetry seeks to deconstruct or break free from form. Take the writing of Ocean Vuong, a Vietnamese American poet whose work has had significant influence on this movement:

“Always another hour to kill—only to beg some god
to give it back. If not the attic, the car. If not the car,

the dream. If not the boy, his clothes. If not alive,
put down the phone. Because the year is a distance

we’ve traveled in circles. Which is to say: this is how
we danced: alone in sleeping bodies. Which is to say:

This is how we loved: a knife on the tongue turning
into a tongue.”

—Ocean Vuong, Homewrecker

While lacking formal structure, Vuong’s work provides that powerful evocation that draws near to one’s heart. Each phrase is a metaphor, a subversion of what’s ordinary and expected, compelling the reader towards something new. This even happens on the micro-level, as even words themselves shift between word classifications and definitions. As shown in K Ming Chang’s “A brief history of the orchid (兰)”, the author writes:

I do know I know the color of thirst

is not salt but cylinder but a city leased to fire

to architect the ash into an alibi

--K-Ming Chang, A brief history of the orchid (兰)

Nouns turn into verbs and verbs turn into nouns, as words such as “leased” and “architect” defy their traditional meaning and placement within the sentence. However, this isn’t to say contemporary teen poetry lacks organization. Plenty of poems and poetic structures, most notably the Haibun, Ghazal, Abecedarian, and many more, have seen a resurgence. Structure exists in deliberate constructions of direct or internal rhyme, repetition, juxtaposition, and other literary techniques. Nonetheless it does represent a growing desire for alternative methods of expression: to break free from the traditional molds of what people may “understand” as poetry and move towards their own, unique poetic ideal.

There is also a particular emphasis on the language and desires of the body. Frontier Poetry’s article, On Craft — The Frontier of the Body, explains the purpose and legacy of bodily works. Predominantly used by early feminist writers, stories grounded in the body—the most known and intimate part of oneself—provide writers with an opportunity to make metaphorical leaps while still telling a comprehensive narrative. Additionally, in acting as our origin story, bodies help convey the intimate tales of violence, family, or homeland that are so intrinsic to the narratives of many marginalized or underrepresented groups. In this way, the body acts as a resistance against oppressive forces and ideas.

A representation of the body can also be found in art and media, such as the works of Ren Hang—a gay Chinese photographer known for depictions of sexuality and life in China.

Collectively, artistic influences in writing and other media have cultivated the influence of the body within teen poetry.

Community and Togetherness Within the Teen Writing World

But why are these poetic ideas—of lyricism, of the body and intimacy with the self—so crucial to the world of teen writing?

As Audre Lorde outlines in her piece, Poetry is Not a Luxury, poetry and writing are often sought out by those who “form the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action.” Similarly, the world of teen poetry is largely shaped by marginalized or underrepresented voices. It’s why previously outlined modes of expression are so important to the world of teen poetry—because it allows people to finally create narratives they can see and digest themselves within.

Influenced by writers such as Ocean Vuong, Jericho Brown, and Richard Siken, teen poetry has created a community where people learn and build off each others’ work. While teen writing can and often has been gatekept, it also spawns communities of growth and interconnectedness.

“Community is so important in teen writing because it can expose a young writer to things they otherwise wouldn’t have experienced, such as other writers, new feedback, and new ideas about the craft of writing,” said Jenna Nesky, a student poet who runs a community called Young Poets Workshops, when asked.

As a poet, teen writing has allowed me to express myself in ways I wouldn’t have done otherwise. It’s a route towards self discovery, of carving an identity for myself out of a canon of work that has historically favored European narratives. It’s taught me to understand our country’s legacy of violence and oppression, but also convert it into manifold forms of expression.

Most of all, I get to work with the brilliant teen voices of today as they transform into the inspirational writers and artists of tomorrow.

by ANONYMOUS