[Skip Navigation]

Plagiarist Poetry Sites: Plagiarist.com | Poetry X | Poetry Discussion Forums | Open Poetry Project | Joycean.org
Enter our Poetry Contest
Win Cash and Publication!

Plagiarist.com Archive

More poems by Adrienne RichAdrienne Rich | Print this page.Print | View and Write CommentsComments | Books by Adrienne RichBooks by Adrienne Rich

Our Whole Life

Adrienne Rich

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

Added: 30 Sep 2002 | Last Read: 7 Jun 2025 7:12 PM | Viewed: 10819 times

A PoetryNotes™ Analysis of Our Whole Life by Adrienne Rich, is Available!

A PoetryNotes™ eBook is available for this poem for delivery within 24 hours, and usually available within minutes during normal business hours.

ON SALE - only $29.95 19.95!

For more information...


URL: http://plagiarist.com/poetry/7128/ | Viewed on 7 June 2025.
Copyright ©2025 Plagiarist - All rights reserved.