Adrienne Rich and Boyne Berries Launch

The American poet, Adrienne Rich, died last Tuesday at the age of 82.

Obituaries - Irish Times; New York Times; Guardian; BBC. Her poems at the Poetry Archive; at PennSound.

As a tribute to her and to the gathering of writers and friends that was the Boyne Berries launch on Thursday evening I finished the night by reading this poem of hers. Most appropriate at what was very much a "We/You/Us" event.

In Those Years

In those years, people will say, we lost track
of the meaning of we, of you
we found ourselves
reduced to I
and the whole thing became
silly, ironic, terrible:
we were trying to live a personal life
and, yes, that was the only life
we could bear witness to

But the great dark birds of history screamed and plunged
into our personal weather
They were headed somewhere else but their beaks and pinions drove
along the shore, through rages of fog
where we stood, saying I

Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)