RICH - Adrienne Rich

Rich - Undoubtedly my first reaction to the word was having great wealth. I also thought of it otherwise. The wealthiest person on planet may feel the poorest if the person is not rich in health/family/friends.

I opened thefreedictionary and to my surprise, the first reference I found was a person! "Adrienne Rich" - american poet and essayist whose works, notably Diving Into the Wreck (1973), concern radical feminism, lesbianism, and political activism.

Curious, I immediately opened mighty Google and found a new writer i was not aware of (Not that I know all of them, but still...).

My first reaction: Yaaayyyy... That was because, first thing i noticed about her was - "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century". I may sound a bit partial, but i somehow feel proud the moment I see/read/hear successful woman.


Below are some lines from Rich which i loved instantly:

~ You must write, and read, as if your life depend on it.

~ Life on the planet is born of woman.

~ When a woman tells the truth she is creating the possibility for more truth around her.

~ Lying is done with words and also with silence.

~ How we dwelt in two worlds the daughters and the mothers in the kingdom of the sons.

~ War is an absolute failure of imagination, scientific and political.

~ Every journey into the past is complicated by delusions, false memories, false namings of real events

~ Sleeping, turning in turn like planets
  rotating in their midnight meadow:
  a touch is enough to let us know
  we're not alone in the universe, even in sleep...

~ ... passion for survival is the great theme of women's poetry.

~ The will to change begins in the body not in the mind

~ ''... this world gives no room
   to be what we dreamt of being''

~ A thinking woman sleeps with monsters.

~ Not biology, but ignorance of ourselves, has been the key to our powerlessness.

~ When I talk of taking a trip, i mean forever.

~ The moment of change is the only poem.

~ Poetry is the liquid voice that can wear through stone.

~ Pride is a tricky double-edged feeling.

~ Either you will
    go through this door
    or you will not go through.
    ...
   The door itself
   makes no promises.
   It is only a door.''


~ The mother's battle for her child—with sickness, with poverty, with war, with all the forces of exploitation and callousness that cheapen human life—needs to become a common human battle, waged in love and in the passion for survival.

This post was written in response to Indispire - Topic - Rich. Write a post on your interpretation of this word.

Have you read Adrienne Rich? What comes to you mind when you read Rich? Put in your thoughts in comments.