The Cracks Between What We Are and What We Are Supposed to Be: Essays and Interviews

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication

The Cracks Between What We Are and What We Are Supposed to Be Mo d ern and Co nte Mpo r ar y po e ti Cs series editors Charles Bernstein Hank Lazer series a dvisory Board Maria d amon r achel Blau d uplessis a lan Golding susan Howe n athaniel Mackey Jerome McGann Harryette Mullen a ldon n ielsen Marjorie perloἀ Joan r etallack r on silliman Jerry Ward The Cracks Between What We Are and What We Are Supposed to Be essays and interviews Harryette Mullen introduction by Hank Lazer t he Univers it y of a l abama press Tuscaloosa Copyright © 2012 The University of a labama press t uscaloosa, a labama 35487-0380 a ll rights reserved Manufactured in the United states of a merica t ypeface: Minion and Goudy Cover: “The Flag is Bleeding,” 1967. Faith r inggold (c) 1967. Courtesy of the artist. Cover design by: Michele Myatt Quinn ∞ The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of a merican n ational standard for information sciences—permanence of paper for printed Library Materials, ans i Z39.48-1984. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-publication d ata Mullen, Harryette r omell. The cracks between what we are and what we are supposed to be : essays and interviews / Harryette Mullen ; introduction by Hank Lazer. p. cm. — (Modern and contemporary poetics) includes bibliographical references. is Bn 978-0-8173-5713-9 (pbk.) — is Bn 978-0-8173-8617-7 (ebook) 1. Mullen, Harryette r omell—interviews. 2. Mullen, Harryette r omell—Criticism and interpretation . 3. poets, a merican—20th century—interviews. 4. a frican a merican women poets—interviews. 5. Literature and society—United states—History—20th century. 6. a frican a merican women—intellectual life—20th century. i. t itle. ps3563.U3954Z459 2012 811'.54—dc23 2012005533 This book is dedicated to family and friends. Without them i could never have written anything at all. ...