Poetry is powerful in the ways it evokes these messages. The book is performative not only through words, but through design. This is done purposely, and it sends a message to the reader. There is a lot of white space in the text. One means by which Rankine performs this message is through the actual layout of the book. In its most insidious forms, it is constantly ingested and expelled from the white body. Racism is not only ingested by people of color. Yet, as I was reading the text, I had to keep thinking about my own positionality as a white man – what is this book saying to me, and how does my positionality influence my reading of the text? Rankine is writing from the perspective of a Black woman. Who did what to whom on which day? Who said that? She said what? What did he just do? Did she really just say that? He said what? What did she do? Did I hear what I think I heard? Did that just come out of my mouth, his mouth, your mouth? Do you remember when you sighed? (p. There is an oft-repeated set of questions in Rankine’s Citizen – the repetition reminding us of the power of disbelief that we are still dealing with the poison of racism. We live in a state of persistent disbelief.

We vomit – either literally – or, word vomit. The poison of racism we ingest must come out of us in some way. The slights, cuts, and ignorance of ‘friends’ whom we thought we knew, but who use coded language, overt language, or perhaps most disturbing: silence (the failure to disrupt clear or blatant racialized aggressions). Here are some thoughts I have on Rankine’s superb, powerful, and deeply moving book.

We are committed to and unapologetically center voices of color, queer voices, and those from other societally marginalized social identities. We put in front of students, faculty, and staff texts that challenge us to engage in critical conversations around societal issues and that focus on justice and equity. The College of Education and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Sam Houston State University, with our partners from the Division of Student Affairs, have been offering a “Diversity Reading Series” on campus for the past four terms. Ching-In Chen (SHSU Department of English) on Claudia Rankine’s (2014) book-length poem Citizen: An American Lyric. This Wednesday, April 25, I will be co-facilitating a campus-wide discussion with Dr.

Citizen an american lyric