From An Atlas of a Difficult World

[raven]

I have spent the last three days, on and off, reading Rawls and Dworkin and other writers on liberal egalitarianism - and it's bleeding into my thought processes; today I asked myself, should I do the washing up? and answered, yes, today I want to be an altruistic welfare-maximiser - and today, mostly reading about the liberal feminist critiques of the orthodoxy. There are, of course, criticisms to be made of liberal feminism too - not ones which you can easily shoehorn into Finals essays, but that's a rant for another time - so I've been reading some published attacks on heteronormativity, most notably "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence", which is an interesting essay worth reading, certainly, although again, I might have trouble using it in an exam essay.

But, that's not the point. I didn't make the connection the first time I read it that this is Adrienne Rich, whom I know not as a political theorist but as a poet. So rather than my boring you all to death with my political theory revision, I'd rather post this. It's my favourite poem by Adrienne Rich, it's pretty much my favourite poem, and I'm not someone who likes a lot of poetry:

From An Atlas of a Difficult World

I know you are reading this poem
late, before leaving your office
of the one intense yellow lamp-spot and the darkening window
in the lassitude of a building faded to quiet
long after rush-hour. I know you are reading this poem
standing up in a bookstore far from the ocean
on a grey day of early spring, faint flakes driven
across the plains' enormous spaces around you.
I know you are reading this poem
in a room where too much has happened for you to bear
where the bedclothes lie in stagnant coils on the bed
and the open valise speaks of flight
but you cannot leave yet. I know you are reading this poem
as the underground train loses momentum and before running
up the stairs
toward a new kind of love
your life has never allowed.
I know you are reading this poem by the light
of the television screen where soundless images jerk and slide
while you wait for the newscast from the intifada.
I know you are reading this poem in a waiting-room
of eyes met and unmeeting, of identity with strangers.
I know you are reading this poem by fluorescent light
in the boredom and fatigue of the young who are counted out,
count themselves out, at too early an age. I know
you are reading this poem through your failing sight, the thick
lens enlarging these letters beyond all meaning yet you read on
because even the alphabet is precious.
I know you are reading this poem as you pace beside the stove
warming milk, a crying child on your shoulder, a book in your
hand
because life is short and you too are thirsty.
I know you are reading this poem which is not in your language
guessing at some words while others keep you reading
and I want to know which words they are.
I know you are reading this poem listening for something, torn
between bitterness and hope
turning back once again to the task you cannot refuse.
I know you are reading this poem because there is nothing else
left to read
there where you have landed, stripped as you are.


Adrienne Rich

Comments

[absinthe-shadow.livejournal.com]

that's a rant for another time

I'd be interested to read it!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I may well post it when I get into actually, y'know, revising! Having had a looooong chat about it with my tutor, it seems to be less of an issue than I thought.

[deepbluemermaid.livejournal.com]

I am also not much of a poetry person, but I like that poem. The imagery is bleak and beautiful by turns.

And the subject matter is also interesting. As a writer, limited though my experience is, I sometimes wonder about my readers: where they are, who they are, etc. And maybe they wonder about me too, given that I share so little information about myself when I post stories.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

It's the "bookstore far from the ocean", the "plains' enormous spaces", that really get to me - they remind me of every journey I've ever made. There's such cavernous resonance in the words, the way they map out their images in such bold strokes.

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, lovely. Have you read "Diving into the Wreck" (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15228)? That may be my favorite Rich poem, though it's so hard to choose.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

No, I hadn't! Thank you for that! What else do you like by her?

Things look at you doubly

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, also in the running for favorite would be "Prospective Immigrants Please Note," (http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/adrienne_rich/11756) which is so haunting I sometimes find myself reciting it in my head. I also really like "Living in Sin," (http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/adrienne_rich/3835) especially the final lines. I appreciate poems that end well. :)

Re: Things look at you doubly

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Oh, "Living in Sin" is beautiful, beautiful. Thank you for these.