Altogether, “Medical Séances” rejects the standard journey of the physician to redefine the requirements needed to become a doctor, to ultimately serve the function of the apology, as Oloruntoba establishes that his vocation as a poet makes him a physician through his own definition since he masters the poetic nature of medical language.
Right off the bat, The Clash critique the political and economic climate in 70s Britain, citing the scarcity of jobs available and the menial and dreary nature of those advertised to young people. Bus driver, ticket inspector, or someone who makes tea at the BBC – the lowest paid position at the broadcasting organisation – do not come across as enviable careers or fulfilling opportunities. Rather, they were desperate attempts by the establishment to lower unemployment figures and keep as many people as they could “out the dock,” meaning out of trouble.
When Bill 21, also referred to as “the Act Respecting the Laicity of the State” was passed in 2019, it was a shock for the religious population and was criticized for targeting racial and religious minorities. What was supposed to be a law about the secularism of the state became a racial issue.
The design of Enkidu as a version of Gilgamesh in the state of nature, their observed difference in temperament and intrepidity, and their death and subsequent immortality in the civilisational narrative all point towards a fundamental schism between the subconscious instinct and conscious reason.
In the anonymous 10th century poem “Wulf and
Eadwacer,” the poetic speaker depicts the contrast between the passion
of her lover Wulf with the security of her new marriage to Eadwacer, as
well as her lonely responsibilities as a peaceweaver, through the revealing
forms of elegy, innuendo, repetition, diction, and natural imagery.
Afro-pessimistic works like Jordan Peele’s 2017 film Get Out and Ta-Nehisi Coates’ 2015 book Between the World and Me allude to a state of double consciousness experienced by Black people in North America. In Get Out, which follows Chris, a Black man escaping from his girlfriend’s parents’ house, where they attempt to subject him to an experiment involving the sale and use of his body by an older white man, the presence of double consciousness overwhelmingly affects Chris’ actions and thoughts. Similarly, in Between the World and Me, a nonfic- tion book that serves as a letter to Coates’ son about the realities of the Black experience in America, double consciousness is explored through the mentioning of real events in which Black people have been subjected to racialized discrimination.
I first met David Bradford by reading his poems in the Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology 2022 where, in my mind, I created an entire personality for him based on the short list of works I read. When I finally met this Dawson alumnus in class, to my surprise, he was a soft-spoken man who managed to steady the mood of the room with his bright presence. Now further intrigued by this poet’s mind, I eagerly set down my cell phone so as not to miss a single word he was to say.