PoemOur Whole Life
Author / PoetAdrienne Rich
TagsExpression, Lies, Pain, Translation

Our whole life a translation
the permissible fibs

and now a knot of lies
eating at itself to get undone

Words bitten thru words

~~

meanings burnt-off like paint
under the blowtorch

All those dead letters
rendered into the oppressor’s language

Trying to tell the doctor where it hurts
like the Algerian
who waled form his village, burning

his whole body a could of pain
and there are no words for this

except himself

Adrienne Rich
Adrienne Rich
16 May 1929 - 27 Mar 2012
Region: North America
Period: Contemporary
Movement: Feminist, Postmodern
Awards: National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

more poems by Adrienne Rich

Poem NameTopic
Twenty-One Love Poems XXIChoice, Identity, Light
Twenty-One Love Poems XXConversation, Love, Reflection
Twenty-One Love Poems XVIIIEstrangement, Love, Miracle
Twenty-One Love Poems XVIIAccident, Forces, Love
Twenty-One Love Poems XVIConnection, Distance, Intimacy
Twenty-One Love Poems XVBeach, Circumstances, Failure
Twenty-One Love Poems XIXConnection, Love, Reality
Stepping BackwardConnection, Goodbye, Identity
Snapshots of a Daughter-In-LawAngels, Experience, Memory
Rural ReflectionsExpression, Grass, Intent

all poems by Adrienne Rich

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