"Diving into the Wreck"
1973
1973
1 First having read the books of myth,
2 and loaded the camera 3 and checked the edge of the knife-blade 4 I put on 5 the body-armor of black rubber 6 the absurd flippers 7 the grave and awkward mask. 8 I am having to do this 9 not like Cousteau with his 10 assiduous team 11 aboard the sun-flooded schooner 12 but here alone. 13 There is a ladder. 14 The ladder is always there 15 hanging innocently 16 close to the side of the schooner. 17 We know what it is used for, 18 we who have used it. 19 Otherwise 20 it is a piece of maritime floss 21 some sundry equipment. 22 I go down. 23 Rung after rung and still 24 the oxygen immerses me 25 the blue light 26 the clear atoms 27 of our human air. 28 I go down. 29 My flippers cripple me, 30 I crawl like an insect down the ladder 31 and there is no one 32 to tell me when the ocean will begin. 33 will begin. |
34 First the air is blue and then
35 it is bluer and then green and then 36 black I am blacking out and yet 37 my mask is powerful 38 it pumps my blood with power 39 the sea is another story 40 the sea is not a question of power 41 I have to learn alone 42 to turn my body without force 43 in the deep element. 44 And now: it is easy to forget 45 what I came for 46 among so many who have always lived here 47 swaying their crenellated fans 48 between the reefs 49 and besides 50 you breathe differently down here. 51 I came to explore the wreck. 52 The words are purposes. 53 The words are maps. 54 I came to see the damage that was done 55 and the treasures that prevail. 56 I stroke the beam of my lamp 57 slowly along the flank 58 of something more permanent 59 than fish or weed |
60 the thing I came for:
61 the wreck and not the story of the wreck 62 the thing itself and not the myth 63 the drowned face always staring 64 toward the sun 65 the evidence of damage 66 worn by salt and sway into this threadbare beauty 67 the ribs of the disaster 68 curving their assertion 69 among the tentative haunters. 70 This is the place. 71 And I am here, the mermaid whose dark hair 72 streams black, the merman in his armored body. 73 We circle silently 74 about the wreck 75 we dive into the hold. 76 I am she: I am he 77 whose drowned face sleeps with open eyes 78 whose breasts still bear the stress 79 whose silver, copper, vermeil cargo lies 80 obscurely inside barrels 81 half-wedged and left to rot 82 we are the half-destroyed instruments 83 that once held to a course 84 the water-eaten log 85 the fouled compass 86 We are, I am, you are 87 by cowardice or courage 88 the one who find our way 89 back to this scene 90 carrying a knife, a camera 91 a book of myths 92 in which 93 our names do not appear. |
"Diving into the Wreck" is one of Rich's most famous poems. Superficially, it is an extended "thoughtshot" of a person diving to discover a legendary shipwreck. During the dive, the speaker reflects on herself and her environment, not just in underwater, but in society, making this poem uniquely Rich's. Through her graphic diction, broken syntax and symbolism of equipment, the story of an exploratory dive grows into an identity transformation.
Notice the choppy lines, and how the length emphasizes the ideas held in the words grouped together. One example of this occurs in line 19, when the speaker is discussing the ladder on the diving boat: "Otherwise" is the only word in the line; this is the only instance of that in the entire poem. That is significant because it introduces and enhances the ladder as a symbol of transportation between worlds, between experiences. It brings the speaker from the air to the water, but the juxtaposition (another hallmark of Rich's poetry) created in the lone "Otherwise" suggest the societal parallel to the mobility of women—"We know what it is used for, / we who have used it. / Otherwise / it is a piece of maritime floss / some sundry equipment." (17-21). By the word "Otherwise," Rich calls women who have experienced mobility in society (though the "ladder" symbolism subtly narrows the mobility to the workplace) to help other women "use" it, otherwise, they will not recognize and remain where they are. Such syntax was not uncommon, but it is rarely so deep and meaningful.
Furthermore, the ambiguity of the identities in the poem cause it to take on deeper meaning as well. Though ambiguity is commonplace in literature, it is not usual to have it leave the meaning of the work so open; it is generally restricted to a line or two to change or enhance the message of the poem, but in "Diving into the Wreck," the ambiguity, which is present in nearly all of Rich's poems, is exaggerated by conventional standards. This conflict of identity, which is heightened towards the end of the poem as the speaker changes pronouns, is a veiled discussion of identity as it relates to oneself, which was just becoming a topic of conversation, even for radicals, at the time this poem was written. Gender and sexual identity were coming to the forefront of social change in the early 1970s, and this poem was essential to beginning that conversation.
Overall, the unconventional syntax and ambiguity in Rich's most influential poems put it into a class all its own, and transforms a diving story into a call for change and conversation about social issues of the time.
Notice the choppy lines, and how the length emphasizes the ideas held in the words grouped together. One example of this occurs in line 19, when the speaker is discussing the ladder on the diving boat: "Otherwise" is the only word in the line; this is the only instance of that in the entire poem. That is significant because it introduces and enhances the ladder as a symbol of transportation between worlds, between experiences. It brings the speaker from the air to the water, but the juxtaposition (another hallmark of Rich's poetry) created in the lone "Otherwise" suggest the societal parallel to the mobility of women—"We know what it is used for, / we who have used it. / Otherwise / it is a piece of maritime floss / some sundry equipment." (17-21). By the word "Otherwise," Rich calls women who have experienced mobility in society (though the "ladder" symbolism subtly narrows the mobility to the workplace) to help other women "use" it, otherwise, they will not recognize and remain where they are. Such syntax was not uncommon, but it is rarely so deep and meaningful.
Furthermore, the ambiguity of the identities in the poem cause it to take on deeper meaning as well. Though ambiguity is commonplace in literature, it is not usual to have it leave the meaning of the work so open; it is generally restricted to a line or two to change or enhance the message of the poem, but in "Diving into the Wreck," the ambiguity, which is present in nearly all of Rich's poems, is exaggerated by conventional standards. This conflict of identity, which is heightened towards the end of the poem as the speaker changes pronouns, is a veiled discussion of identity as it relates to oneself, which was just becoming a topic of conversation, even for radicals, at the time this poem was written. Gender and sexual identity were coming to the forefront of social change in the early 1970s, and this poem was essential to beginning that conversation.
Overall, the unconventional syntax and ambiguity in Rich's most influential poems put it into a class all its own, and transforms a diving story into a call for change and conversation about social issues of the time.