An emotionally-charged and highly controversial poet, Baraka even shocks me with his work. I decided to raed "Somebody Blew Up America" after finding out that it was written in response to the 9/11/01 attacks. But what really piqued my interest was seeing that many people were so upset by his art that they had difficultly being objective when it came to judging it as art. After reading that poem and one of his earlier works, it's clear that, even if his style may have changed, it is the same poet--the same thinker--who wrote both. Of course, he's grown and changed, but it's still so evident that the same man wrote both works. One thing in particular is the raw and intentionally crude/crass/ugly language he employs to bring the reader into his frame of thought and feeling. Add to that the courage and integrity it must have taken to write what he did about 9/11--whether I agree with every last bit or not--and Baraka has quickly become a man I respect as a person and an artist. If any of you guys do read Baraka, let me know how you feel about his style.
The two poems I read:
"Somebody Blew Up America": http://www.counterpunch.org/2002/10/03/somebody-blew-up-america/
"Babylon Revisited" on PF: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171267
