Adrian Matejka’s Mixology is a treatise on mixtures. His poems read like slam poetry, but are written in more traditional form, with uniformly-sized lines and verses. Many more traditional poets like to use literary allusions in their poetry, referencing classical works and authors. Matejka chose to go this route in most of his poems, but instead of referencing dead white men, he chose to use Public Enemy lyrics, and references to a more urban culture.
If one did not know that Adrian Matejka is of mixed heritage, I feel that much of the meaning of the poems would be lost. However, all it takes to resolve that problem is a quick Google or Wikipedia search, which isn’t difficult since many terms in the poems need to be looked up anyway. Growing up in post-World War II Germany must have been difficult for someone of African-American heritage, even with Nazi rule over. The book begins with the line “Today, I’m assimilating like margarine into hotcakes;” to Matejka, assimilation is everything, whether or not he even wants to fit in. He was coming of age in America just as urban culture was becoming popular; at a Public Enemy show, he and the rest of the audience “didn’t know what to do as a rap crowd either.” He didn’t know how to assimilate to either of his backgrounds. He’s like the basketball he writes about in “Synth Composite Basketball: No More Leather:” “mulatto/ of homemade leather and rubber/ now named a “basketball.” Just like the basketball, he is mulatto, a combination of opposite-looking things.
Overall, I think Matejka was very successful with Mixology. He was able to mix high-brow and low-brow cultures in such a way that leaves a huge impression. His ability to take such a traditional literary convention, the use of allusion, and twist it into something using urban pop-culture references shows just how versed he is in the struggle to be a mixture of two things and still be successful.
I feel your response to Matejka is spot on, and I like how you emphasize his seeming obscession with being of mixed race. It was something that, as I reached the end of Mixology, I began to really grow tired of. Yes, I understand you’re of mixed race and obviously that makes your life extremely dificult, boo hoo. That whole strand can only be so profound for so long.
ReplyDeleteI found his references to popular culture of Generation X and Y to be refreshing. I like how you make a correlation about rap crowds not knowing how to act and comparing that to Matejka’s questions about himself. You also mention Germany, and Matejka’s life there. I was curious about this aspect of his life too, though I am not sure what sort of racism he might encounter in Germany (during Matejka’s childhood, a East and West Germany would still have existed, with US occupying West Germany and maintaining military bases there.)
Your comment on basket reminded me. Matejka talked about how old and out of shape he felt. The guy can’t be that old, can he?