for adrienne rich
yr tight, formalist lyric which represents aunt jen
so well as she mute/meekly sews her red righteous rage
into bright topaz tigers caged in safe needlepoint,
morphs into long contrapuntal lines (terse snapshots of
a daughter-in-law) whose wide gaps between words deafen,
whose pearly prose grates, whose didactic & informal
diction beats back stasis with the singlemindedness
of sisyphus ( yr relentless milk man on the stairs)
& paints with dazzling light the nervy, unfulfilled child
bride pinned down, a specimen insect, by torturous
love; morphs again into the precisely personal
lines of self-redeemed, clitorally liberated
unction that augurs hope for androgynous vision.
©Joseph McNair
"her red righteous rage
ReplyDeleteinto bright topaz tigers caged in safe needlepoint,
morphs into long contrapuntal lines" nice words,i think it was in this work Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law, where she expresses her lesbianism.
Adrienne Rich is a powerful spokesperson for women's issues. You capture her spirit well in this tribute.
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