Before Giovanni and Oliver, there was Rich

Poet Adrienne Rich was 82 when she died last month. Her body of work she left behind is immense. Four of her collections sit on the desk in front of me as I write this; one collected works is in my office at CSW.

Adrienne Rich said of poetry: "Essentially poetry, if it is poetry, does not lend itself to simple readings, to oversimplifications – though people may try to read it that way. It seems to me that the essential nature of a poem is that there is ambivalence and ambiguity quivering underneath." What a superb description of the power of the poet, a power that she/he passes onto us as we struggle with and wonder about their words.
 

There are four titles I see before me as I write: “A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far,” “The Dream of a Common Language,” “Your Native Land, Your Life” and “On Lies, Secrets and Silence.” These titles alone tell you something about Rich’s body of work. The poem “Heroines” was one I taught many times: “You draw your long skirts/ deviant/ across the nineteenth century/ registering injustice.” “Lioness” is another favorite poem to teach (“Her eyes/ are truthful. They mirror rivers.”) When I taught Jane Eyre I drew on her essay “Jane Eyre: The Temptations of a Motherless Woman;” I can see the careful underlining in my copy as I reread.

Many of you already know that I love poetry. In recent years, I have also come to love Nikki Giovanni and Mary Oliver, but I mourn Rich’s passing and I recommend that you take a look at her brilliant work.

Pocket Change is a web diary written by Jane Moulding, head of school.