Page 17 - June 2024 Newsletter
P. 17
THE POETRY PAGE
I recently came across a new poet - well, new to me, although any
American is going to laugh at me for saying that!
Adrienne Rich was an American poet,
feminist, and political activist whose work is
known for its powerful exploration of politics,
identity, and the female experience. I suspect
that her feminism was the main driving force
behind her very powerful poetry, and reading a
poem like “Power” certainly suggests this.
Power
Living in the earth - deposits of our history
Today a backhoe divulged out of a crumbling flank of earth
one bottle amber perfect a hundred-year-old
cure for fever or melancholy a tonic
for living on this earth in the winters of this climate.
Today I was reading about Marie Curie:
she must have known she suffered from radiation sickness
her body bombarded for years by the element
she had purified
It seems she denied to the end
the source of the cataracts on her eyes
the cracked and suppurating skin of her finger-ends
till she could no longer hold a test-tube or a pencil
She died a famous woman denying
her wounds
denying
her wounds came from the same source as her power.
This is a poignant reflection on the complexities of female strength
and resilience, interwoven with a critical examination of historical and
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