Don't Let Me Be Lonely
Expansive permission functions as a multi-faceted concept, weaving through numerous educational and experimental interfaces. Moreover, the concept extends to our citation practice, embodying the ethos of relational scholarship. This conceptual and contextual space transforms citation from a mere academic formality into a dynamic practice that acknowledges the interdependence and co-constitution of ideas, thinkers, and texts. Citations become gestures of acknowledgment and engagement, recognizing the origins and influences of ideas while situating them within a broader discursive field.
This analytic space also emphasizes the ethical dimensions of scholarship, where the “self” of the critic and the “other” of the cited work are intertwined, thus becoming a site of intellectual humility and responsibility. This constructivist approach to citation unravels layers of meaning, urging scholars to reimagine their positionalities as both creators and recipients of knowledge.
The concept of “expansive permission” is seen as a reflective stance; it critiques and redefines boundaries within scholarly enterprises. It permits intellectual creativity to flourish without forsaking indispensable ties to academic lineage. Through this lens, citations are liberated from methodological rigidity, acquiring a fluidity that honors both individual insight and collective wisdom.
In Don’t Let Me Be Lonely, Claudia Rankine reflects on the nature of poetry and presence:
Or Paul Celan said that the poem was no different from a handshake. I cannot
see any basic difference between a handshake and a poem—is how Rosemary
Waldrop translated his German. The handshake is our decided ritual of both
asserting (I am here) and handing over (here) a self to another. Hence the poem
is that—Here. I am here. This conflation of the solidity of presence with the
offering of this same presence perhaps has everything to do with being alive.1
(Rankine 130)
The handshake is both an assertion of presence (“I am here”) and a transference of self (“here”). The act of “handing over” connotes a Heideggerian mit-sein2 (being-with). The handshake, thus, operates as a bridge, facilitating an ontological correspondence that transcends the dichotomy of subject-object. The handshake transforms into a spatial-temporal conduit, imbuing every act of hand-contact with a sense of connection, recognition, and mutual acknowledgment.
Rankine, Claudia. Don't Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric. Graywolf Press, 2004.
Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. Translated by John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson, Harper & Row, 1962.