The Lamentational Poetry of Serj Tankian

I wrote in an earlier post that, even though they are a wildly talented group of musicians, I could not in good conscience give a coveted ETP Award to System of a Down because they are already famous… But I also wrote in my “about ETP” piece that I will sometimes spotlight the famous, though likely in different light than we are used to seeing them. This week’s ETP Award proves both rules by bestowing the coveted Extremely Talented People Award on SOAD lead vocalist Serj Tankian, but not for his powerful vocals fronting his old band. Rather, what I want to spotlight in this entry are Serj’s poems — that’s right, he is a poet as well as a singer/songwriter. His poems are political, radical, insightful, inspiring and strange all in one breath. I have seen criticism of his verse on-line that chides him for writing poetry that demonstrates “why poetry is dying,” but I could not disagree more — and not simply on grounds of personal taste, but based on what is perhaps a deeper view of the history of poetry in general. Serj’s poems are Lamentations, a phrase which harkens back to the prophets of the Old Testament who had the cahoneys to risk life and limb, standing on mountains and rooftops and streetcorners crying out the evils of their day, and calling everyone from the lowliest common folk to the loftiest kings to repent and turn back to the good, before it was too late… Serj Tankian is a modern Lamentational Poet in the same school as, not only Jeremiah, but such recent and recognized poetic masters as Allen Ginsberg, who’s “Howl” (1956) is a true Lamentational classic. “Howl” famously begins:

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix…

Tell me you don’t hear the echoing outcry of Jeremiah and Ginsberg in Serj’s poems. Tell me you don’t feel convicted. Tell me, in the wake of these poems, that you don’t believe your own government is out enslave you and your modern TV culture to soften your mind and grind you into a worn and toothless cog in the machinery of Capitalism. Tell me you don’t hear the voice crying in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of democracy and creative freedom!” I’ll call you a liar. Serj Tankian is a true poet, a bit of a prophet, and unquestionably an Extremely Talented Person. Take your Award, Serj! The rest of you, awaken and enjoy!

War That No One Won

I’m Erica and Circus Tiger

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