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 fish or weed

the thing I came for:
the wreck and not the story of the wreck
the thing itself and not the myth
the drowned face always staring
toward the sun
the evidence of damage
worn by salt and away into this threadbare beauty
the ribs of the disaster
curving their assertion
among the tentative haunters.

This is the place.
And I am here, the mermaid whose dark hair
streams black, the merman in his armored body.
We circle silently
about the wreck
we dive into the hold.
I am she: I am he

whose drowned face sleeps with open eyes
whose breasts still bear the stress
whose silver, copper, vermeil cargo lies
obscurely inside barrels
half-wedged and left to rot
we are the half-destroyed instruments
that once held to a course
the water-eaten log
the fouled compass

We are, I am, you are
by cowardice or courage
the one who find our way
back to this scene
carrying a knife, a camera
a book of myths
in which
our names do not appear.

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[andreagheen]

did you make the video? and put the music w/AR's reading? I love it!!

[U2bianSynic]

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.

[bboyxclub]

Beatiful, I love the song. Is that Enigma??? If so what song??

[U2bianSynic]

Thanks, and the track is by Tryad Listen. :o)

[pmpsty]

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.

[U2bianSynic]

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...

[ir133]

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.

!!

[MsDrewaustin]

amazing has 2 b 1 of the best videos on u tube

[sherbetbaby2]

this is amazing! have you got more stuff like this?

[sherbetbaby2]

this is AMAZING. have you got more stuff like this?

[Gui8466]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[SydTheSkeptic]

@paulkwan27 Thank you! Got my tix to see Rich in Santa Fe in a couple of weeks. :o)

[SydTheSkeptic]

@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! :o)

Thanks for the feedback- it made my day.

[SydTheSkeptic]

@racbeck Thank you! It's my favorite poem- has meant a lot to me through the years.

[racbeck]

I have to say, you did a great job with this.. it really captures the poem

[paulkwan27]

This is really amazing.  Nice Job.

[fayjoojoo793]

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?