I found this while sort of half-assed picking up my desk. Well, moving
papers around, if you will. We all loved the poet Adrienne Rich and
here is a poem about her written just after she died in 2012.
For Adrienne Rich (1929 - 2012)
I stand here and grieve our loss, in the kitchen of all women,
my blue cup circling, aswirl in the microwave carousel,
and I say a prayer of thanks to you, dear Adrienne.
I see your eighty-two years, pixie hair, ears distinctly elfin,
I see too many women still wed to brooms and chains of pearls.
I stand here now, all too aware, in this kitchen of all women,
that too many of our husbands are wounded, angry men,
too many of our girls have suffered thorns that are unspeakable,
and I say a prayer of thanks to you, dear Adrienne.
I carry my knowledge of women with faces now hidden,
veils concealing what their beloveds did; acid to lava, unimaginable.
I stand here and grieve our losses, in this kitchen of all women.
Oxen, donkeys, horses, mules and us, yoked, downtrodden,
your words our beacons of light, you dove into the wreck for us all.
I drink my coffee and mourn your loss, here in the kitchen of all women,
I say a prayer of gratitude and hope, to you, brave Adrienne.
~ Jane Underwood (poet, teacher, friend) 2012
