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A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far: Poems, 1978-1981
â We are in the presence here of a major American poet whose voice at mid-century in her own life is increasingly marked by moral passion.â â New York Times Book Review
Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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About the author
Adrienne Rich
138 books1,573 followersWorks, notably
Diving into the Wreck
(1973), of American poet and essayist Adrienne Rich champion such causes as pacifism, feminism, and civil rights for gays and lesbians.
A mother bore Adrienne Cecile Rich, a feminist, to a middle-class family with parents, who educated her until she entered public school in the fourth grade. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Radcliffe college in 1951, the same year of her first book of poems, A Change of World. That volume, chosen by W. H. Auden for the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award, and her next, The Diamond Cutters and Other Poems (1955), earned her a reputation as an elegant, controlled stylist.
In the 1960s, however, Rich began a dramatic shift away from her earlier mode as she took up political and feminist themes and stylistic experimentation in such works as Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law (1963), The Necessities of Life (1966), Leaflets (1969), and The Will to Change (1971). In Diving into the Wreck (1973) and The Dream of a Common Language (1978), she continued to experiment with form and to deal with the experiences and aspirations of women from a feminist perspective.
In addition to her poetry, Rich has published many essays on poetry, feminism, motherhood, and lesbianism. Her recent collections include An Atlas of the Difficult World (1991) and Dark Fields of the Republic: Poems 1991–1995 (1995).
A mother bore Adrienne Cecile Rich, a feminist, to a middle-class family with parents, who educated her until she entered public school in the fourth grade. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Radcliffe college in 1951, the same year of her first book of poems, A Change of World. That volume, chosen by W. H. Auden for the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award, and her next, The Diamond Cutters and Other Poems (1955), earned her a reputation as an elegant, controlled stylist.
In the 1960s, however, Rich began a dramatic shift away from her earlier mode as she took up political and feminist themes and stylistic experimentation in such works as Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law (1963), The Necessities of Life (1966), Leaflets (1969), and The Will to Change (1971). In Diving into the Wreck (1973) and The Dream of a Common Language (1978), she continued to experiment with form and to deal with the experiences and aspirations of women from a feminist perspective.
In addition to her poetry, Rich has published many essays on poetry, feminism, motherhood, and lesbianism. Her recent collections include An Atlas of the Difficult World (1991) and Dark Fields of the Republic: Poems 1991–1995 (1995).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
November 7, 2016
"The strongest reason
for giving woman all the opportunities
for higher education, for the full
development of her forces of mind and body...
the most enlarged freedom of thought and action
a complete emancipation
from all the crippling influences of fear-
is the solitude and personal
responsibility
of her own individual life."
For a long time, a very long time in fact, my favorite poet was D.H. Lawrence. When I was nineteen, I remember reading the poem 'Medlars and Sorb Apples' and just completely and utterly fell in love with his writing, his way of describing things, his words. (And if you love poetry, actually go read this poem. It's delicious and sinful!) He remained lodged in the number one spot in my heart for over ten years...until reading the poetry of Adrienne Rich. Her strong and intense writing style, mixed lavishly with drop dead gorgeous prose and utterly heartrending emotion just swept me away. And I instantly and forever changed my favorite poet status to Adrienne Rich! ;)
for giving woman all the opportunities
for higher education, for the full
development of her forces of mind and body...
the most enlarged freedom of thought and action
a complete emancipation
from all the crippling influences of fear-
is the solitude and personal
responsibility
of her own individual life."
For a long time, a very long time in fact, my favorite poet was D.H. Lawrence. When I was nineteen, I remember reading the poem 'Medlars and Sorb Apples' and just completely and utterly fell in love with his writing, his way of describing things, his words. (And if you love poetry, actually go read this poem. It's delicious and sinful!) He remained lodged in the number one spot in my heart for over ten years...until reading the poetry of Adrienne Rich. Her strong and intense writing style, mixed lavishly with drop dead gorgeous prose and utterly heartrending emotion just swept me away. And I instantly and forever changed my favorite poet status to Adrienne Rich! ;)
May 11, 2008
For Memory
Old words: trust fidelity
Nothing new yet to take their place.
I take leaves, clear the lawn, October grass
painfully green beneath the gold
and in this silent labor thoughts of you
start up
I hear your voice: disloyalty betrayal
stinging the wires
I stuff the old leaves into sacks
and still they fall and still
I see my work undone
One shivering rainswept afternoon
and the whole job to be done over
I can't know what you know
unless you tell me
there are gashes in our understandings
of this world
We came together in a common
fury of direction
barely mentioning difference
(what drew our finest hairs
to fire
the deep, difficult troughs
unvoiced)
I fell through a basement railing
the first day of school and cut my forehead open--
did i ever tell you? More than forty years
and I still remember smelling my own blood
like the smell of a new school book
And did you ever tell me
how your mother called you in from play
and from whom? To what? These atoms filmed by ordinary dust
that common life we each and all bent out of orbit from
to which we must return simply to say
this is where I came from
this is what I knew
The past is not a husk yet change goes on
Freedom. It isn't once, to walk out
under the Milky Way, feeling the rivers
of light, the fields of dark--
freedom is daily, prose-bound, routine
remembering. Putting together, inch by inch
the starry world. From all the lost collections.
1979
Old words: trust fidelity
Nothing new yet to take their place.
I take leaves, clear the lawn, October grass
painfully green beneath the gold
and in this silent labor thoughts of you
start up
I hear your voice: disloyalty betrayal
stinging the wires
I stuff the old leaves into sacks
and still they fall and still
I see my work undone
One shivering rainswept afternoon
and the whole job to be done over
I can't know what you know
unless you tell me
there are gashes in our understandings
of this world
We came together in a common
fury of direction
barely mentioning difference
(what drew our finest hairs
to fire
the deep, difficult troughs
unvoiced)
I fell through a basement railing
the first day of school and cut my forehead open--
did i ever tell you? More than forty years
and I still remember smelling my own blood
like the smell of a new school book
And did you ever tell me
how your mother called you in from play
and from whom? To what? These atoms filmed by ordinary dust
that common life we each and all bent out of orbit from
to which we must return simply to say
this is where I came from
this is what I knew
The past is not a husk yet change goes on
Freedom. It isn't once, to walk out
under the Milky Way, feeling the rivers
of light, the fields of dark--
freedom is daily, prose-bound, routine
remembering. Putting together, inch by inch
the starry world. From all the lost collections.
1979
January 17, 2014
I read most of this collection while sitting in the Tennessee woods: ideal conditions, as these poems are full of Nature and Women and the South and the North. "What Is Possible," in particular, has joined my pantheon of favorite poems and also, probably, "The Spirit of Place" for lines like these:
force nothing, be unforced
accept no giant miracles of growth
by counterfeit light
trust roots, allow the days to shrink
give credence to these slender means
wait without sadness and with grave impatience
here in the north where winter has a meaning
where the heaped colors suddenly go ashen
where nothing is promised
learn what an underground journey
has been, might have to be; speak in a winter code
let fog, sleet, translate; wind, carry them.
force nothing, be unforced
accept no giant miracles of growth
by counterfeit light
trust roots, allow the days to shrink
give credence to these slender means
wait without sadness and with grave impatience
here in the north where winter has a meaning
where the heaped colors suddenly go ashen
where nothing is promised
learn what an underground journey
has been, might have to be; speak in a winter code
let fog, sleet, translate; wind, carry them.
April 13, 2012
Not long ago, Adrienne Rich died of rheumatoid arthritis. Her death is a loss to the world and also to me. I never met her; it took me a long time to understand her poetry, so it seems somewhat strange that I would miss her, but I do.
In 1976, Rich wrote "Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution". I am not sure when I first encountered this book, but some time before my first pregnancy in 1982. With her writings about motherhood, Rich actually made me think about childbirth and how I wanted to give birth to our children. My first child was born in 1984 and his birth was planned as a home birth. That did not happen, but my doctor respected my decisions and worked hard so that we could avoid a caesarian birth. Almost five years later, our daughter was born at home. I would have never thought much about childbirth without Adrienne Rich's book.
When I learned that Rich had died, I searched my poetry shelves and found this book. I don't remember when I got this book, however I am so glad it was on my shelf. So many of the poems here spoke to me. I especially liked Heroines and Grandmothers, but all of the poetry here was wonderful. Rich really did have a way with words. She seemed to know that to change the world it takes looking at all parts of life - we need to protest, we need to write. We definitely needed Rich's voice and still do. She is not replaceable and we will miss her more than most of us will ever know.
April is Poetry month so I recommend this book to all because we can all be touched by poetry if we give it a chance. If you don't find a poem in Rich's oeuvre that you like try another poet, another poem. There are plenty out there and I know there is a poem trying to speak to you.
In 1976, Rich wrote "Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution". I am not sure when I first encountered this book, but some time before my first pregnancy in 1982. With her writings about motherhood, Rich actually made me think about childbirth and how I wanted to give birth to our children. My first child was born in 1984 and his birth was planned as a home birth. That did not happen, but my doctor respected my decisions and worked hard so that we could avoid a caesarian birth. Almost five years later, our daughter was born at home. I would have never thought much about childbirth without Adrienne Rich's book.
When I learned that Rich had died, I searched my poetry shelves and found this book. I don't remember when I got this book, however I am so glad it was on my shelf. So many of the poems here spoke to me. I especially liked Heroines and Grandmothers, but all of the poetry here was wonderful. Rich really did have a way with words. She seemed to know that to change the world it takes looking at all parts of life - we need to protest, we need to write. We definitely needed Rich's voice and still do. She is not replaceable and we will miss her more than most of us will ever know.
April is Poetry month so I recommend this book to all because we can all be touched by poetry if we give it a chance. If you don't find a poem in Rich's oeuvre that you like try another poet, another poem. There are plenty out there and I know there is a poem trying to speak to you.
May 11, 2014
I think this book has the best title ever, and fortunately what's inside lives up to it. Just incredible.
November 10, 2024
I read this with my Tiny Book Club. One member is a poet and she chose this poetry collection for us. We are a group of three women, all are feminists, all are writers, two are Jewish, one is lapsed Christian turned Taoist, one is a lesbian. When we read poetry, we take turns reading some of the poems aloud.
Adrienne Rich was a feminist, born in 1929, died in 2012. She is considered one of the most widely read poets in the second half of the 20th century. She deals with the oppression of women and lesbians. I had not read her before.
I enjoyed her almost conversational style and her frequent referrals to women poets and writers from the past. I found I could grasp most of the poems in just one reading. I got a strong sense of strength in her thinking and writing.
In our discussion we recalled our early days of becoming feminists. It was invigorating.
Adrienne Rich was a feminist, born in 1929, died in 2012. She is considered one of the most widely read poets in the second half of the 20th century. She deals with the oppression of women and lesbians. I had not read her before.
I enjoyed her almost conversational style and her frequent referrals to women poets and writers from the past. I found I could grasp most of the poems in just one reading. I got a strong sense of strength in her thinking and writing.
In our discussion we recalled our early days of becoming feminists. It was invigorating.
June 8, 2015
These are poems that are at once personal and political, historical and timeless, confessional and celebratory, mournful, insistent, intimate: original & sufficiently oblique to reward--no, demand-- multiple readings.
This is naturalism as post-industrialism.
These poems are raw, holistic, dangerous. And like any pharmakon, these poems will either disturb you or put you at ease, in accord with her idiosyncratic vision.
Rich mines the concept of identity and place to unpack the post-colonial experience and what it means to be a daughter, mother, sister, lesbian, and champion of the oppressed.
Certain images repeat throughout this volume, building a subtle resonance.
Mad respect to her for listing sources at the end of this volume.
This is naturalism as post-industrialism.
These poems are raw, holistic, dangerous. And like any pharmakon, these poems will either disturb you or put you at ease, in accord with her idiosyncratic vision.
Rich mines the concept of identity and place to unpack the post-colonial experience and what it means to be a daughter, mother, sister, lesbian, and champion of the oppressed.
Certain images repeat throughout this volume, building a subtle resonance.
Mad respect to her for listing sources at the end of this volume.
May 6, 2025
(4.4)
Came very close to being a five, and I definitely want to read the rest of her work. One of the less insane poets?
Came very close to being a five, and I definitely want to read the rest of her work. One of the less insane poets?
June 12, 2024
light drank at my body thinking of you I felt free in the cicadas’ pulse, their encircling praise🙇🏼♀️
Sat in gorlitzer and read in one go wearing all of Stella’s clothes (sorry Stella I needed to be in camo) and the sun came out really bright a few times and the pages became all reflective and the last of the elderflower bloomed over me and I felt pretty awesome. Gonna go make rhubarb juice now and bought myself two pink flowers and gonna read more and more until my brain explodes and I feel smart again🤸🏼♂️
Sat in gorlitzer and read in one go wearing all of Stella’s clothes (sorry Stella I needed to be in camo) and the sun came out really bright a few times and the pages became all reflective and the last of the elderflower bloomed over me and I felt pretty awesome. Gonna go make rhubarb juice now and bought myself two pink flowers and gonna read more and more until my brain explodes and I feel smart again🤸🏼♂️
March 15, 2023
Oh, Adrienne, what a blessing to spend time with you. I borrowed this book but fell in love with a sentence and then I bought it.
December 5, 2013
close to your body, in the pain of the city
i turn. ,my hand half-sleeping reaches, finds some part of you,
touch knows you before language
names in the brain. out in the dark
a howl, police sirens, emergency
our 3 a.m familiar, ripping the sheath of sleep
registering pure force as if all transpired- the swell of
cruelty and helplessness- in one block between west end and riverside.
in my dreams the hudson rules the night like a right-hand margin
drawn against the updraft of burning life, the tongueless cries of the city.
i turn again, slip ,y arm under the pillow turned for relief, your breathing
trace my shoulder . two women sleeping together have more than their sleep to defend.
i turn. ,my hand half-sleeping reaches, finds some part of you,
touch knows you before language
names in the brain. out in the dark
a howl, police sirens, emergency
our 3 a.m familiar, ripping the sheath of sleep
registering pure force as if all transpired- the swell of
cruelty and helplessness- in one block between west end and riverside.
in my dreams the hudson rules the night like a right-hand margin
drawn against the updraft of burning life, the tongueless cries of the city.
i turn again, slip ,y arm under the pillow turned for relief, your breathing
trace my shoulder . two women sleeping together have more than their sleep to defend.
December 27, 2016
Πάντα η ποίηση της καλυτερεύει τη μέρα...
December 24, 2018
Adrienne Rich's poetry is fire, and helps me breathe, gives me hope that the fire inside me has somewhere to live.
It feels fitting ending my year (and annual reading goals) with this collection, with another new-to-me and instantly beloved book of poetry. This book is filled with so much honesty, so much truth, and I'm already looking forward to my 2019 (and all subsequent years) being filled to the brim with Adrienne Rich's wise and captivating words.
[Five electric stars for so many pages that feel so alive.]
It feels fitting ending my year (and annual reading goals) with this collection, with another new-to-me and instantly beloved book of poetry. This book is filled with so much honesty, so much truth, and I'm already looking forward to my 2019 (and all subsequent years) being filled to the brim with Adrienne Rich's wise and captivating words.
[Five electric stars for so many pages that feel so alive.]
October 20, 2019
Favourites -
Coast to Coast
Integrity
Transit
Mother-in-Law
Heroines
Rift
Coast to Coast
Integrity
Transit
Mother-in-Law
Heroines
Rift
October 6, 2014
My first semester of graduate school I went to the bathroom at a bar and found this book title graffitied in big letters on the wall in the stall. I wrote it down and have been thinking about it ever since.
I finally got around to actually picking up this volume of Adrienne Rich's poetry this month. She is an incredible feminist, lesbian, introspective poet from the seventies onward and in this volume she details the pain of love, the reality of human experience and a wide range of other emotions. I'm glad I read it, and I still think the title/quote remains as one of the guiding phrases of my graduate school career.
quotes/lines:
"but really I have nothing but myself/
to go by; nothing /
stands in the realm of pure necessity/
except what my hands can hold"
"Are we all in training for something we don't name?/
to exact reparation for things/
done long ago to us and to those who did not/
survive what was done to them"
The entirety of the poem called "A Vision"
I finally got around to actually picking up this volume of Adrienne Rich's poetry this month. She is an incredible feminist, lesbian, introspective poet from the seventies onward and in this volume she details the pain of love, the reality of human experience and a wide range of other emotions. I'm glad I read it, and I still think the title/quote remains as one of the guiding phrases of my graduate school career.
quotes/lines:
"but really I have nothing but myself/
to go by; nothing /
stands in the realm of pure necessity/
except what my hands can hold"
"Are we all in training for something we don't name?/
to exact reparation for things/
done long ago to us and to those who did not/
survive what was done to them"
The entirety of the poem called "A Vision"
January 14, 2009
there is one poem, i can't remember the name, but she says
"I should miss you more than any other
living creature on this earth...
Yes, our work is one,
we are one in aim and sympathy
and we should be together...
beautiful. This poetry collection, I have to say, I prefer to the Dream of a common language.
"I should miss you more than any other
living creature on this earth...
Yes, our work is one,
we are one in aim and sympathy
and we should be together...
beautiful. This poetry collection, I have to say, I prefer to the Dream of a common language.
September 23, 2007
Doesn't the name say it all?
February 5, 2008
I read it cover to cover in about an hour. she is honest without being mean, something i strive for in life in general as well as in my written accounts of the world.
July 13, 2008
Uplifting, amazing, but the aura of the 'now' has since faded. 1978-1981 seem to be always outside of my grasp.
April 23, 2012
Here Rich continued her explorations, into the uncharted territories. With the best possible title. I was lucky to read these as they came out.
April 5, 2021
This book is tagged on Goodreads as “queer” and “LGBTQ+” — which is why I picked it up in the first place.
But there is no queer poetry within this work. The word lesbian is mentioned twice but as a passing thought—not as a central poetic theme or even political commentary.
Many poems have a solid feminist undertone though, which gave it some points.
Only twice while reading this poetry collection did I pause from the impact of the author’s words. I was not very taken aback or moved by her poems, hence the 3 star rating.
It’s important to note however, that the author (Adrienne Rich,) according to Wikipedia: “...was credited with bringing the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse”.
Wikipedia also states: “Rich criticized rigid forms of feminist identities, and valorized what she coined the "lesbian continuum," which is a female continuum of solidarity and creativity that impacts and fills women's lives”.
This description is enthralling & I fully plan to dive deeper into this poet’s published collections to see if any beautiful queer or feminist poetry can be unearthed. She must be known for all of the aforementioned things for a reason, right? I look forward to finding those reasons:)
“You were impotent and brilliant, no one cared
about your mind, you might have ended
elsewhere than in that glider
reciting your unwritten novels to the children”
—Adrienne Rich, GRANDMOTHERS
But there is no queer poetry within this work. The word lesbian is mentioned twice but as a passing thought—not as a central poetic theme or even political commentary.
Many poems have a solid feminist undertone though, which gave it some points.
Only twice while reading this poetry collection did I pause from the impact of the author’s words. I was not very taken aback or moved by her poems, hence the 3 star rating.
It’s important to note however, that the author (Adrienne Rich,) according to Wikipedia: “...was credited with bringing the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse”.
Wikipedia also states: “Rich criticized rigid forms of feminist identities, and valorized what she coined the "lesbian continuum," which is a female continuum of solidarity and creativity that impacts and fills women's lives”.
This description is enthralling & I fully plan to dive deeper into this poet’s published collections to see if any beautiful queer or feminist poetry can be unearthed. She must be known for all of the aforementioned things for a reason, right? I look forward to finding those reasons:)
“You were impotent and brilliant, no one cared
about your mind, you might have ended
elsewhere than in that glider
reciting your unwritten novels to the children”
—Adrienne Rich, GRANDMOTHERS
November 4, 2018
“and absolute loyalty was never in my line /
once having left it in my father’s house”
—RIFT
WOW! The first poem in this is titled THE IMAGES, and the second I finished the first stanza, I felt really out of breath. I did not expect this. This is the kind of poetry I just love. It was like reading Crush by Richard Siken. Adrienne Rich loves words and loves images and it is made so clear from the graceful way she transports us into the pictures of her mind. My sister and I are currently dealing with the sadness and cold frustration that comes with accepting that your familia's misogynistic, controlling, hateful traditions are not something you want to carry with you any longer, much less into the future, and weirdly enough, this is the second day in a row that I find myself sharing literature to soothe us. Yesterday was Thoreau's call to make our own choices in life, today was Adrienne Rich's CULTURE AND ANARCHY. I missed feeling embalmed by poetry like this, this is so so so so so so beautiful.
FAVORITES:
once having left it in my father’s house”
—RIFT
WOW! The first poem in this is titled THE IMAGES, and the second I finished the first stanza, I felt really out of breath. I did not expect this. This is the kind of poetry I just love. It was like reading Crush by Richard Siken. Adrienne Rich loves words and loves images and it is made so clear from the graceful way she transports us into the pictures of her mind. My sister and I are currently dealing with the sadness and cold frustration that comes with accepting that your familia's misogynistic, controlling, hateful traditions are not something you want to carry with you any longer, much less into the future, and weirdly enough, this is the second day in a row that I find myself sharing literature to soothe us. Yesterday was Thoreau's call to make our own choices in life, today was Adrienne Rich's CULTURE AND ANARCHY. I missed feeling embalmed by poetry like this, this is so so so so so so beautiful.
FAVORITES:
THE IMAGES
INTEGRITY
RIFT
August 19, 2022
shes mother….
”Two women sleeping
together have more than their sleep to defend.”
-
“If the mind were clear
and if the mind were simple
you could take this mind
this particular state
and say
This is how I would live if I could choose:
this is what is possible
A clear night.
But the mind
of the woman imagining all this
the mind
that allows all this to be possible
is not clear as the night
is never simple
cannot clasp
its truths as the transiting planets clasp each other
does not so easily
work free from remorse
does not so easily
manage the miracle
for which mind is famous
or used to be famous
does not at will become abstract and pure”
-
“I think I’m breaking in two
and half of me doesn’t even want to love”
-
“Yes, I find you
overweening, obsessed, and even in your genius
narrow-minded—I could list much more—
and absolute loyalty was never in my line
once having left it in my father’s house—
but as I go on sorting images of you
my hand trembles, and I try
to train it not to tremble.”
”Two women sleeping
together have more than their sleep to defend.”
-
“If the mind were clear
and if the mind were simple
you could take this mind
this particular state
and say
This is how I would live if I could choose:
this is what is possible
A clear night.
But the mind
of the woman imagining all this
the mind
that allows all this to be possible
is not clear as the night
is never simple
cannot clasp
its truths as the transiting planets clasp each other
does not so easily
work free from remorse
does not so easily
manage the miracle
for which mind is famous
or used to be famous
does not at will become abstract and pure”
-
“I think I’m breaking in two
and half of me doesn’t even want to love”
-
“Yes, I find you
overweening, obsessed, and even in your genius
narrow-minded—I could list much more—
and absolute loyalty was never in my line
once having left it in my father’s house—
but as I go on sorting images of you
my hand trembles, and I try
to train it not to tremble.”
June 21, 2017
"You draw your long skirts / deviant / across the nineteenth century / registering injustice / failing to make it whole / How can I fail to love / your clarity and fury / how can I give you / all your due / take courage from your courage / honor your exact / legacy as it is / recognizing / as well / that it is not enough?"
This excerpt from "Heroines" captures the spirit of this volume for me. What the blurbs on the back of the book say are true: this book is about moral passion and the struggle to of "trying to live / in a clear-headed tenderness." This collection celebrates women, honors their bodies and the work of their hands, speculates about the power of their minds and sings of an unfinished reckoning.
I will keep reading and re-reading. In doing so, I will know a little more each time what it means to be "mute / innocent of grammar as the waves." Thank you, Adrienne.
This excerpt from "Heroines" captures the spirit of this volume for me. What the blurbs on the back of the book say are true: this book is about moral passion and the struggle to of "trying to live / in a clear-headed tenderness." This collection celebrates women, honors their bodies and the work of their hands, speculates about the power of their minds and sings of an unfinished reckoning.
I will keep reading and re-reading. In doing so, I will know a little more each time what it means to be "mute / innocent of grammar as the waves." Thank you, Adrienne.
September 11, 2023
In Colcha embroidery, I learn,
women use raveled yarn from old wool blankets
to trace out scenes of homespun wollen sacks -
our ancient art of making out of nothing -
or is it making the old life serve the new?
The impact of the Christian culture, it is written,
and other influences, have changes the patterns.
(Once they were birds perhaps, I think; or serpents.)
Example: here we have a scene of flagellants,
each whip is accurately self-directed.
To understand colonization is taking me
years. I stuck my loaded needle
into the coarse squares of the sack, I smoothed
the stylized pattern on my knee with pride.
I also heard them say my own designs
were childlike, primitive, obscene.
What rivets me to history is seeing
atrs of survival turned
to rituals of self-hatred. This
is colonization. Unborn sisters,
look back on us in mercy where we failed ourselves,
see us not one-dimensional but with
the past as your steadying and corrective lens.
women use raveled yarn from old wool blankets
to trace out scenes of homespun wollen sacks -
our ancient art of making out of nothing -
or is it making the old life serve the new?
The impact of the Christian culture, it is written,
and other influences, have changes the patterns.
(Once they were birds perhaps, I think; or serpents.)
Example: here we have a scene of flagellants,
each whip is accurately self-directed.
To understand colonization is taking me
years. I stuck my loaded needle
into the coarse squares of the sack, I smoothed
the stylized pattern on my knee with pride.
I also heard them say my own designs
were childlike, primitive, obscene.
What rivets me to history is seeing
atrs of survival turned
to rituals of self-hatred. This
is colonization. Unborn sisters,
look back on us in mercy where we failed ourselves,
see us not one-dimensional but with
the past as your steadying and corrective lens.
January 14, 2019
People who have read my poetry collection reviews lately will see two consistent points come out: 1) that I am reading poetry books that belonged to my late mother and 2) that reading poetry over coffee on mornings is much better for my psyche than my Twitter timeline.
So now that I’ve established that let me say that Adrienne Rich’s work moves me. Her turn of phrase and imagery was captivating and thought provoking. I tagged a number of her works for future re-reading. Three in particular that I recommend to everyone
1. Integrity
2. Frame
3. The Spirit of Place
I hope that if you haven’t read her work that you make some time for a few of her poems. I’m so grateful that my mother had these books of poetry and that i could rescue them from an uncertain future.
So now that I’ve established that let me say that Adrienne Rich’s work moves me. Her turn of phrase and imagery was captivating and thought provoking. I tagged a number of her works for future re-reading. Three in particular that I recommend to everyone
1. Integrity
2. Frame
3. The Spirit of Place
I hope that if you haven’t read her work that you make some time for a few of her poems. I’m so grateful that my mother had these books of poetry and that i could rescue them from an uncertain future.
October 21, 2021
3 stars bc i don’t want to read poetry that has to go through my intellect and like be heavily processed in the linguistic part of my brain in order to make me feel something. i like reading poetry that swallows me whole and gives me that gut punch feeling without me having to do anything at all—the kind that works even when i am resistant to feeling anything—because it reaches me through my senses and not my cognitive brain. this might just be because im dumb and probably have adhd but whatever. but anyways this was really hard to read and bored me sorry adrienne. it’s probably actually really good for people who are smarter than me
October 31, 2023
from "Culture and Anarchy"
Late afternoon: long silence.
Your notes on yellow foolscap drift on the table
you go down to the garden to pick chard
while the strength is in the leaves
crimson stems veining upward into green
How you have given back to me
my dream of a common language
my solitude of self.
I slice the beetroots to the core,
each one contains a different landscape
of bloodlight filaments, distinct rose-purple
striations like the oldest
strata of a Southwestern canyon
an undiscovered planet laid open in the lens
November 27, 2020
While I loved the earlier poems in this book, the poems toward the end did not hold me as well (I doubt I am the anticipated audience for these poems so I appreciated the perspective). Her imagery has a way of capturing you with a grip that you I didn't expect but perhaps getting used to it or a shift in the grip prevented me from feeling it as strongly towards the end.
March 1, 2022
Don’t love a compilation of random poems from between certain years, and I also don’t love political poetry in general, BUT that said—still some catch-you-by-the-throat beauty in here:
“This headlong, loved, escaping life—“
“I can’t know what you know / unless you tell me / there are gashes in our understandings / of this world”
“This headlong, loved, escaping life—“
“I can’t know what you know / unless you tell me / there are gashes in our understandings / of this world”
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