Finding Arguments in Lived Experience (continued)

The claims and assumptions of argument are all around us, whether formally laid out as formal argument or creatively composed through photos, films, case studies, news articles, fiction and nonfiction narratives or poetry. We can find issues that demand our thought in formal documents (like supreme court case opinions), in government documents, in the news media, and in various art forms. Consider for example, some work by the poet Nikky Finney, a writer we have featured in previous years and whose new volume of poetry came out Spring 2003. “The Sound of Burning Hair,” a poem from Rice, is based on a real event—one very similar to events a few years back in Waco, Texas. In May 1985, police in Philadelphia, after a 90-minute gun battle, bombed a house in which members of a mostly black anti-government group (MOVE) were living. Click here for a summarized account from CNN Interactive. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 CNN1-Poem-Quotation Contents Eldred-University of Kentucky English-University of Kentucky Writing Program-Town and Gown

Nikky Finney’s new book, The World is Round