Addressing a "You": Part 3, The "You" as "I"

In another variation of second person address, the writer uses the “you” form but really seems to mean “I.” “You” becomes a stand-in for the speaker of the poem or story. Thanks to the poet Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet for suggesting this classic example, Philip Levine’s poem “What Work Is.” Levine’s poem is narrated by a speaker waiting in line with day laborers hoping to find work at a Ford plant. But by the third line, the poet is addressing us, the readers, in an up-close-and-personal voice:

You know what work is—if  you’re

old enough to read this you know what

work is…

Soon the speaker is telling us to abandon our usual sense of self: “Forget you. This is about waiting…” Quickly the poem sweeps us into the vantage point of the “you.” But this “you” is really the speaker, since he is recalling such an incredibly specific event:

…now suddenly you can hardly stand

the love flooding you for your brother,

who’s not beside you or behind or

ahead because he’s home trying to   

sleep off a miserable night shift

at Cadillac so he can get up

before noon to study his German.

More than likely than not, none of us has a brother who worked a night shift at the Cadillac plant so he could study German opera. Most probably Philip Levine did have a brother like the one described in this poem. The reason it works in this poem to use the “you” who resembles the speaker, even though the circumstances are so particular to this situation, is that the poet is telling both himself and his reader or listener that love for another needs to be expressed and demonstrated, not just felt. That’s such a universal imperative that it makes sense that the speaker has externalized the poem to an address in the second person.

Often I find that the “I” as “you,” though, is somewhat dishonest. The writer is not really claiming his or her own experience, but trying to soft-pedal it by it projecting onto the reader. If you’ve written a poem or story of this sort, try putting it in the first person. It may be scary to claim that experience, but it also may be far more powerful, and it might push the writing in other directions that enhance your work.

Other recent posts on writing topics:

Addressing a "You": Part 1, Part 2

How to Get Published
Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop
How Not to Become a Literary Dropout
Putting Together a Book Manuscript
Working with a Writing Mentor
How to Deliver Your Message
Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?
Why Write Poetry? 
Poetic Forms: Introduction; The Sonnet, The Sestina, The Ghazal, The Tanka

Praise and Lament
How to Be an American Writer

Tips for the AWP Conference, Picks for Friday, March 2

These are one poet’s personal and quirky picks for events for the AWP conference in Chicago in 2012. I’ve highlighted presenters I’ve seen in the past or topics that seem interesting to me.

9:00–10:15 AM. Literature and the Internet in 2012. The panelists are all editors of Internet magazines, so this might have substance. Grand Ballroom, Palmer House.

10:30–11:45 AM. Graywolf Press Reading. Includes D.A. Powell and Albert Goldbarth, both very worth hearing. International Ballroom South, Hilton Chicago.

10:30–11:45 AM. On the Move: Contemporary African American Women’s Literary Fiction. I don’t know the panelists, but it sounds promising. State Ballroom, Palmer House Hilton.

Noon–1:15. Why We Need a WPA for the 21^st Century. It’s probably a pipe dream, but hey, pass the pipe! Wabash Room, Palmer House Hilton.

1:30–2:45 PM. National Book Critics Circle Celebrates Award-Winning Writers. You get to hear Jane Smiley and Jennifer Egan. Hard to beat. Grand Ballroom, Hilton Chicago.

3:00–4:15 PM. A Reading and Conversation with Luis J. Rodriguez and Dagoberto Gilb. Luis Rodriguez is a wonderful reader. I bet this will be a winner. Grand Ballroom, Hilton Chicago.

4:30–5:45 PM. Arab and Arab American Feminism. Good topic, and it features Youmna Chlala, who is very worth hearing. Lake Erie, Hilton Chicago.

4:30–5:45 PM. A Reading and Conversation with C.K. Williams. Hugely original poet who doesn’t appear that often in the U.S. Grand Ballroom, Hilton Chicago.

8:30–10:00 PM. A Reading and Conversation with U.K. and U.S. Poets Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and Philip Levine. Sounds terrific. Philip Levine is a living legend. International Ballroom North and South, Hilton Chicago.

Zack Rogow will be signing copies of his new book, My Mother and the Ceiling Dancers, at the Kattywompus Press table (bookfair booth 721) at the AWP conference in Chicago on Friday, March 2, 2012 from noon to 1:00 p.m. His play, Things I Didn’t Know I Loved, about the Turkish writer Nazim Hikmet, will be given a staged reading at AWP on Saturday, March 3 from 1:30 to 2:45 p.m. in room Wiliford A, Hilton Chicago, 3^rd floor.