Monday, April 2, 2012

Either you will go through this door or you will not go through

Adrienne Rich, 1980
I didn't want too many more days to go by without noting the passing last week of poet and essayists Adrienne Rich at the age of 83. She opened windows and doors as a feminist and lesbian, and influenced many in the mid-20th century. Here is a poem she wrote in 1962 that I particularly like:

+ + +
Prospective Immigrants Please Note
By Adrienne Rich

Either you will
go through this door
or you will not go through.

If you go through
there is always the risk
of remembering your name.

Things look at you doubly
and you must look back
and them happen.

If you do not go through
it is possible
to live worthily

to maintain your attitudes
to hold your position
to die bravely

but much will blind you,
much will evade you,
at what cost who knows?

The door itself
makes no promises.
It is only a door.

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