Adrienne Rich died on Tuesday. As some of you may know, I work for the agency that represents her. I wrote a paper on her poem "Storm Warnings" in high school, and her name was one of the reasons I applied for my job. I was lucky enough to work with her on occasion, mostly on boring logistical things, and to have met her when she came to the agency a couple of years ago during a trip to New York. I escorted her back to her hotel which was a couple blocks away, and I remember having the impulse to tell everyone we passed that they were standing just inches away from a living legend.
At the end of the day I barely knew her, but in addition to being a brave and powerful voice for those who couldn't always speak for themselves, she was as lovely a person as one could imagine. In the acknowledgments of her last book she was kind enough to name everyone at our small agency including me who, as I mentioned, she had only met twice. Her contributions to poetry, and humanity, were remarkable and she will be missed.
I bought five of her books when I read about her death yesterday / what she and her work stood for. The article said she was the poet/activist/feminist who wants to write the world into a place of equality and respect, into a lack of oppression and dominance. I don't know much about her, I've just read some of her poems online, but I'm excited to meet her, in a way, through her writing. It's really cool that you got to spend a little time with her. What an awesome job you have.
ReplyDeleteKait