Diving Into the Wreck
My mantra. Diving Into The Wreck by Adrienne Rich First having read the book of myths, and loaded the camera, and checked the edge of the knife-blade, I put on the body-armor of black rubber the absurd flippers the grave and awkward mask. I am having to do this not like Cousteau with his assiduous team aboard the sun-flooded schooner but here alone. There is a ladder. The ladder is always there hanging innocently close to the side of the schooner. We know what it is for, we who have used it. Otherwise it is a piece of maritime floss some sundry equipment. I go down. Rung after rung and still the oxygen immerses me the blue light the clear atoms of our human air. I go down. My flippers cripple me, I crawl like an insect down the ladder and there is no one to tell me when the ocean will begin. First the air is blue and then it is bluer and then green and then black I am blacking out and yet my mask is powerful it pumps my blood with power the sea is another story the sea is not a question of power I have to learn alone to turn my body without force in the deep element. And now: it is easy to forget what I came for among so many who have always lived here swaying their crenellated fans between the reefs and besides you breathe differently down here. I came to explore the wreck. The words are purposes. The words are maps. I came to see the damage that was done and the treasures that prevail. I stroke the beam of my lamp slowly along the flank of something more permanent than …
Wreck Diving – Shipwreck Diving
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this is great. is there an mp3?
This poem is a metaphorical journey of discovery, Rich through most of her life struggled hugely with her sexuality and this poem is all about her discovery. When Rich says
“the thing i came for;
the wreck and not the story of the wreck
the thing itself and not the myth”
here Rich is searching for the truth and not the myths of men and women.
!!
Indeed.
How many of us are still living within that story or that myth…?
Powerful we are studying emily dickinson right now and this juxtaposes to so many central themes emily dickinson protrays ….. THANKS MS. SPERRY FOR THIS LINK !!!!!!!! very powerful
I’m glad you see the connections there.
…and thanks Ms. Sperry ;o)
God, I love this poem so much. I only hope that I get to the point where the external forces of history can pull me towards a truth as powerful as Rich’s.
Hell, yes. Maybe that’s why we’re so connected to it…it speaks to our hope for reaching that point in our own personal evolutions…
adrienne rich was a lesbian vampire killer
Beatiful, I love the song. Is that Enigma??? If so what song??
Thanks, and the track is by Tryad Listen.
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Lovely stuff. Thanks very much.
did you make the video? and put the music w/AR’s reading? I love it!!
I did. I’m very glad you like it. It meant a lot for me, personally, to be able to create something that represented my connection to this poem and for others to feel it means a lot to me.
I enjoyed your clip…I love Adrienne Rich!
Great, but the music is too loud…overpowers the voice.
I think you’re right on about that. Thanks
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Yes, I agree. Great video and the music does bring out the atmosphere partly, but it needs to be backgrounded a bit.
wow! amazing…really amazing
Glad you liked! Making this video was cathartic for me.
I found your wonderful appreciation of the Rich poem last semester and have used it now twice in my Women and Literature class. I have been teaching the poem for over twenty years, and your video with the poet’s voice in the background serve as a terrific tool for understanding Rich’s poem. Thank you! Will you do some other poems?
This is really amazing. Nice Job.
I have to say, you did a great job with this.. it really captures the poem
@racbeck Thank you! It’s my favorite poem- has meant a lot to me through the years.
@fayjoojoo793 That’s great!! This poem has helped me to reshape my own narrative, so that it’s mine, entirely.
Rich will be visiting my city in a couple of weeks so I’m going to try to see her after a reading she’s giving and let her know about this- I sure hope she likes it. It’s kind of scary thinkin’ about approaching her, but I’m determined!
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Thanks for the feedback- it made my day.
@paulkwan27 Thank you! Got my tix to see Rich in Santa Fe in a couple of weeks.
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