From “understory” by: Craig Santos Perez
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Craig Santos Perez by Kara Schatz
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Pacific Ecopoet
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“Poetry can inspire and empower us towards real change… [it] opens up a space of possibility and promise.” - Craig Santos Perez
These are the words of poet Craig Santos Perez in response to a question about the power of his work. He believes that all poetry can motivate personal mediation and change. Not only does he believe it, but this is one of his goals when he writes. He does not write simply to entertain or inform. Rather, he writes for a deeper, more pressing purpose. On top of entertaining and informing, he seeks to spur his readers to confront a variety of different issues facing humans today.
Perez is a native Chamorro, which is the name given to natives of Guam, who currently resides in Hawaii (Craig Santos Perez). He has written three books of poetry all in a “from unincorporated territory” series, in which he discussed a wide range of topics that concern him (Craig Santos Perez). Currently, he is a professor at the University of Hawaii where he actually teaches a course on eco-poetry. He says that his goal in teaching this course is to "raise awareness, through poetry, about the environment, climate change, sustainability, resource use, development, militarism, and conservation" (Craig Santos Perez). This directly correlates with his goal in actually writing ecopoetry as well. He really seeks to inform the world about grave issues so that we might all join the efforts for change. He is a renowned Pacific poet and is especially popular among his fellow native Chamorro people as much of his work focuses directly on issues that face his homeland as well as other Pacific islands. However, this is certainly not his only focus. His work is almost entirely in response to various social, political, and environmental issues (Wilson).
While many of his poems are specifically about Guam and the Pacific, his audience is certainly not limited to these areas. He writes for anyone interested in the issues he presents and welcomes those who may not yet understand the severity. He admits that the issues about which he writes “may not be familiar to many Americans,” but he invites anyone to still read his work so that they might be able to “learn more about the histories and cultures of the Pacific by reading [their] literatures, listening to [their] voices, recognizing [their] strength and humanity, empathizing with [their] struggles, and supporting [their] fight” ("New Pacific Islander Poetry").
One theme that captures a large portion of his work is the environment, or specifically, climate change. He recognizes that the extreme changes we have witnessed in the climate are detrimental in more ways than we know. In an interview, Perez discusses that human treatment of the environment is “endangering human and animal habitats” and stresses that this cannot continue if we hope to continue living comfortably and peacefully as we do (first native pacific islander). In one of his prose pieces entitled “New Pacific Islander Poetry,” he reveals that this issue hits close to home for him, literally. In recent years, significant numbers of Pacific islanders have begun to “[migrate] because climate change has made their islands uninhabitable” ("New Pacific Islander Poetry"). He is deeply concerned about these groups of people losing vital aspects of their cultures as they are now forced to resort to “learning about their histories through stories, books, or the internet” ("New Pacific Islander Poetry"). He is currently working on a new book of poetry that focuses exclusively on "nature, ecology, environmental injustice, climate change, and food" (Wang). His work is already very environmentally aware, but this new book will be even more so.
Because the issue of environmental change and our role in it troubles him so, Craig Santos Perez is undoubtedly an artist of the Anthropocene. Now, simply having concern for the environment is not enough to earn the title artist of the Anthropocene. However, reading some of Perez’s works reveals that he satisfies all the necessary requirements.The Anthropocene
Anthropocene art does not come in a one size fits all box; it comes in all sorts of forms. However, there are a few things that all Anthropocene art must have in order to fall into this category. First, Anthropocene art must recognize and address that we face many environmental problems and that these issues have arisen in large part due to human treatment of the environment. The Anthropocene is a new epoch that is centered around human impacts on the world around us, so it is imperative that an artist of the Anthropocene recognizes this. In Bernhard Malkmus’ “Man in the Anthropocene,” he discusses the impact of humans on the Earth and the sheer gravity of the situation. He argues that the legacy we are leaving on the earth is “large enough to impose the sixth mass extinction on [our] fellow species” (Malkmus, 71). I do not think that many people realize that extent to which we are impacting the world around us. The source of the issue is that “the earth is seen as… an agent” and humans will use it to their benefit as much as they can (Malkmus, 83). Anthropocene art is a powerful way to spread word about the current situation and its pressing nature.
Secondly, Anthropocene art must incite a certain emotional response from its viewers/readers/listeners. While this emotional response may vary, it is important that people feel disturbed to some extent as well as somewhat remorseful when they are made aware of the severity of the situation. Now, all Anthropocene art does not need to be guilt-inducing, but it certainly can be. This is not to say that we should feel torn apart afterwards, but feeling remorseful or even guilty about our treatment of nature is very important. This feeling is what will ultimately motivate action and incite the change needed to solve the issues we face. When we are made aware of how desperate the situation is, we are significantly more likely to do something about it. In his article entitled “Why Hope is Dangerous When It Comes to Climate Change”, Tommy Lynch argues that we must “embrace pessimism” in order to incite change (Lynch). If we are too optimistic, then we will just wait around for scientists to find a solution or for the problem to fix itself, but this simply cannot happen (why hope is). He recognizes that it is “easier to hope for a wild geoengineering solution than face the reality that billions of people need to change their daily habits,” and this is exactly why people do not change. We are too uncommitted to make a change. Therefore, we need some sort of stimulus that will generate a sense of empathy for the environment. Remorse and discomfort unfortunately may be the only way to convince people to change.Featured Works
"understory"
Let’s take a look at Craig Santos Perez’s “understory” series to get some insight into how he treats the Anthropocene. This is a series of about two dozen poems that will be featured in his next book in the “from unincorporated territory” series. They “[explore] the themes of birth, creation, parenting, and climate change” (Wilson). The first poem in the series is dedicated to his wife at the time that she was pregnant with their daughter, who is now a toddler. His main topic of discussion is his concerns for his daughter as she grows and develops and how she will be able to live in the Anthropocene. He worries about pollution and global warming and the effects that this may have on the health of the coming generations. He also worries about how future generations will be able to produce food due to the fact that we are falling into a worse and worse relationship with the earth as every day passes. These concerns are unfortunately very realistic as these are real effects of our treatment of the world around us. If we do not start caring for the earth now, then our descendants will be helpless as they cannot use the earth for support as we do.
In the second poem in this series, he narrates a trip to the doctor’s office with his 6-month-old daughter. Interspersed between the story are accounts of various diseases that have spread rampant among human populations. He reiterates his concern about the state of health in coming years. With all the pollution and climate change going on around us, we are spreading more and more diseases, and this is clearly going to be affecting our well-beings.“how will/ open air/ pesticide drift/ affect our/ unborn daughter,/ whose nerve/ endings are/ just beginning/ to root? — ”
“what will/ our daughter/ be able/ to plant/ in this/ paradise of/ fugitive dust —”
For Perez, climate change is affecting all aspects of his life, including how he raises his family. In an interview, he discussed this series of poems, and revealed that it served as an outlet for his emotions during this period of time. In regards to the second poem in the series, he says that it "brings together the anxiety [he] experience when taking [his] daughter to get her immunizations and reading about how infectious diseases have been increasing due to global warming" (Wilson). He is not afraid to reveal that the Anthropocene makes him emotional; it worries him for a multitude of reasons. That is precisely why he writes his poetry; it is a way for him to express his emotions and conjure up empathy and concern from his readers so that together we might all tackle the issue. In the same interview, he discusses that voice is an essential piece of his poetry. He seeks to capture not only his own "thoughts, emotions, and perceptions," but also those of others (Wilson).“when/ the planet/ warms, [our]/ bodies host/ fever chains/ of transmission—/ no child/ born in / this/ fourth/ era of/ disease will/ be immune—”
Something unique that Craig Santos Perez does in his writing is he appeals to human suffering. Unfortunately, humans are self-centered creatures by nature and because of this, we are often only concerned with things that affect us personally. Therefore, by discussing human suffering, he catches the reader’s attention. We are more likely to stand up for change if we realize that we are harming other humans because we view this as immoral; we recognize that this needs to be stopped immediately before more people get hurt. Perez realizes this shortcoming of the human race and intelligently brings attention to the very issues about which we care most. We will see more evidence for this in the next series of poems that we analyze.Holidays in the Anthropocene
He has a series of poems about the Anthropocene that currently has two poems in it: “Halloween in the Anthropocene” and “Thanksgiving in the Anthropocene,” and he is working on others to add to this series. He explores many of the same ideas in these two poems. They both focus on the specific ways in which their respective holidays cause us to harm not only the earth but the people around us. Oppression of different groups of people is a major theme in this series. As discussed earlier, this is one of his key tactics for grabbing people’s attention and commitment. Here we will take a look specifically at “Halloween in the Anthropocene.”
He created a spoken word version of this poem that is now on YouTube. In this video, we can truly experience the haunting feeling that this poem conjures up in us. It is extremely powerful and impressive that Perez's delivery is able to have this effect on us.
This line in particular grabs my attention. He calls out the human race for being greedy and does not choose to sugarcoat it. As humans, we feel uncomfortable when people bring up our wrongdoings; we often feel ashamed and nervous. Shame is one of the driving forces for us to quit whatever it is we are doing wrong. Therefore, Perez chooses to essentially shame us for our actions and make us feel guilty. This is our “wakeup call,” our reminder that we need to be less self-centered and become aware of the negative effects that our actions have on everything around us."— pray for us — because our costumes/ won’t hide the true cost of our greed.”
This is another key line not only because it raises concern for the pollution of the ocean and the death of children, but also because it is an example of a major trend in Perez’s poetry. One of the major themes of his poetry is the ocean. He lives on an island, so his people rely on the Ocean for food, making a living, transportation, and much more. Thus, his concern is understandable as the ocean is a victim of the Anthropocene that he encounters in his daily life.“praise his mother,/ Ocean, who is dying in a warming bath among dead/ fish and refugee children”
Mother Ocean
Most of his ecopoems mention the ocean to some extent, and he has even written one of his longest poems explicitly for “Mother Ocean,” as he often refers to her. This poem is entitled “Praise Song for Oceania.” In this poem, Perez ironically “praises” the ocean’s “capacity” to put up with our mistreatment and torture. This introduces another key aspect of his writing that arises in various works. He often relies on irony or sarcasm to convey his point of view. This is a perfect example of a way that he incorporates sarcasm into his writing. He will mention something that is clearly serious and unacceptable, but he will proceed it by saying “praise” as in “Praise song for Oceania,” or by saying “thank you” as in “Thanksgiving in the Anthropocene,” etc.SPAM
One of his most sarcastic works is entitled “SPAM’s carbon footprint.” In this poem, he discusses that fact that SPAM is a staple food in Chamorro diet, but that it is so bad for their health. However, they all eat it anyways because it is all they have access to and all they can afford. He contrasts this by making ironic and sarcastic jokes about SPAM being thought of as a delicacy and it being gifted to people because they like it so much. Being able to joke about one’s own misfortunes is an important characteristic, and Perez definitely possesses it. “Making fun” of his people in this way allows him to really catch his readers attention so that they too can realize how utterly sad and outrageous the situation is.Anthropocene Poet
Overall, we have seen that Craig Santos Perez is a passionate poet, and he aims to introduce his viewpoints in regards to certain issues to his reader. Clearly, not all of his poetry is directly related to climate change and the Anthropocene; some of it is not related at all. However, this does not prevent him from deserving the title "artist of the Anthropocene." John Shoptaw offers a definition of ecopoetry in his article entitled "Why Ecopoetry?" He argues, "an ecopoem needs to be environmental and it needs to be environmentalist" (Shoptaw). He elaborates upon this definition in the rest of the article and reveals the following criteria for an ecopoem:- must not just focus on nature, but on nature's relationship with plant and animal species, cultures, etc.
- should be self-reflexive
- should "compel us to assume responsibility for global warming" (Shoptaw)
- should "aim to unsettle"
- causes us to think about changing "the ways we think, feel about, and live and act in the world" (Shoptaw)
Works Cited
Hanlon, Aaron R. "Margaret Cavendish's Anthropocene Worlds." New Literary History, 2016, pp. 49-66. MLA International Bibliography, muse.jhu.edu/article/626113/pdf.
Malkmus, Bernhard. ""Man in the Anthropocene": Max Frisch's Environmental History." Modern Language Association of America, 2017, pp. 71-85. MLA International Bibliography, www.mlajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1632/pmla.2017.132.1.71.
Perez, Craig Santos. Craig Santos Perez. 2017, craigsantosperez.com/.
Perez, Craig Santos. "Eco-Poetics." Craig Santos Perez, 2017, craigsantosperez.com/eco-poetics/.
Perez, Craig Santos. from Unincorporated Territory [hacha]. Tinfish Press, 2008.
Perez, Craig Santos. from Unincorporated Territory [guma']. Omnidawn Publishing, 2014.
Wilson, Megan. "Interview with Craig Santos Perez." Colorado State University, 29 Oct. 2015, coloradoreview.colostate.edu/interview-with-craig-santos-perez/.
