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Comment 6 of 6, added on May 31st, 2006 at 4:03 PM.
THis poem has meaning beyond the surface meaning. It holds power over the
reader, pulling you in like your a child on a playground. Antisipating what
you want to play on next. Reading this poem takes you in and guess what...
you dont mind it. Its a poem about reading poems...or is it?
Mary from United States
Comment 5 of 6, added on December 17th, 2005 at 11:14 PM.
I haven't felt so loved since my last visit to the health clinic. Really.
It's a bit of a story.
This poem made me feel *understood*, but not at all violated.
Margarita from Canada
Comment 4 of 6, added on November 7th, 2005 at 12:18 AM.
I think this piece is so powerful because it can be universalized, anyone
can see themselves in her explanation of their need for poetry, but she was
actually addressing a much smaller audience than a first reading would
imply. There are levels to her audience and levels of meaning to be read in
the poem.
The title and the final line imply great struggle, beyond (I think) the
mundane struggles of the every day consumer of poetry. Adrienne Rich was an
extremely astute lesbian feminist poet and she very well may be speaking to
women, or specifically lesbians in this poem. The need for a life-narrative
(an alternative to the hetero-norm) that makes sense, and the need for an
expression of that marginal and oppressed existence in literature of some
kind (specifically poetry) may be what she is communicating in this poem.
Not only do humans need poetry, but women need the poetry of other women,
and lesbians need the poetry of other lesbians. This intense need for
community and community narratives gives deeper meaning to the diverse
situations in which we find ourselves connecting with poetry, and Adrienne
Rich communicates it through her poem without excluding other audience
members from the experience. That's a powerful expression of the
connectedness of a community of humans that actually privileges the
marginal without excluding the mainstream audience.
Div from United States
Comment 3 of 6, added on October 27th, 2005 at 2:30 PM.
This poem is so fascinating because it interacts with the reader. One of
the situation described my reading of the poem. It is a poem about reading
poems. And it celebrates the word, the single letter, language so to speak.
It also shows how we need poetry like we need food. I found that rather
interesting as you often think of poetry as something special not something
you would read while heating milk.
Kathrin from Germany
Comment 2 of 6, added on September 25th, 2005 at 7:25 AM.
I find also this poem beautiful. It's a pity because in France we have no
Rich's translation, only unpublished or sometimes in review like Le nouveau
recueil, translations by Claire Malroux (Claire Malroux is translated in
english by Marilyn Hacker). I am reading poetry all day long, all days long
and in most of the situations evocated by Rich ! Why ? Because I need
poetry all the time, to feed my head, my heart, my soul, my life.
I have created a blog at http://poezibao.com, in France, and I publish very
often extracts of american poetry, as often as possible with original text.
Florence Trocmé from France
Comment 1 of 6, added on November 22nd, 2004 at 7:30 PM.
This poem so beautifully and powerfully captures the deep need we humans
have for poetry, how we will get it wherever we can, however we can, even
while heating milk on the stove, holding our crying baby. (I certainly can
understand this need, being a new father myself.)
Ed Eckel from United States
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THis poem has meaning beyond the surface meaning. It holds power over the
reader, pulling you in like your a child on a playground. Antisipating what
you want to play on next. Reading this poem takes you in and guess what...
you dont mind it. Its a poem about reading poems...or is it?
Mary from United States