Douglas Kearney is an American poet and librettist whose work is characterized by a deep engagement with the sound and rhythm of language. His poetry often explores themes of identity, history, and cultural heritage through innovative uses of form and imagery. Kearney's style is known for its intellectual depth coupled with a playful approach to language. Through his writing, he has established himself as a distinctive voice in contemporary American poetry.
This collection showcases the innovative voice of Douglas Kearney, a celebrated poet recognized with the Whiting Writers' Award. Known for his previous work, "The Black Automaton," Kearney continues to explore complex themes and unique poetic forms, pushing the boundaries of language and expression. His distinctive style invites readers to engage deeply with the text, offering a fresh perspective on contemporary poetry.
An experiment and experience in language, surveying the junction of violence, entertainment, race, and folklore.
Optic Subwoof is a collection of four talks that poet and National Book Award finalist Douglas Kearney presented for the Bagley Wright Lecture Series in 2020 and 2021. As kinetic on the page as they are in person, these lectures offer an urgent critique of the intersections between violence and entertainment, interrogating the ways in which poetry, humor, visual art, music, pop culture, and performance alternately uphold and subvert this violence. With genius precision and an avant-garde sensibility, Kearney examines the nuances around Black visibility and its aestheticization--or as Evie Shockley puts it "This work refuses to let us ignore the violent erasure and consumption of black bodies across history through the visual layering of language..." In myriad ways, Optic Subwoof is a book that establishes Kearney as one of the most dynamic writers and thinkers of the twenty-first century.