“Diving Into The Wreck” by Adrienne Rich
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1 “This is the place.
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And I am here, the mermaid whose dark hair
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streams black, the merman in his armored body.
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We circle silently
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5 about the wreck
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we dive into the hold.
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I am she: I am he
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------------------------------------------------- whose drowned face sleeps with open eyes
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whose breasts still bear the stress
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10 whose silver, copper, vermeil cargo lies
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obscurely inside barrels
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half-wedged and left to rot
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we are the half-destroyed instruments
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that once held to a course
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15 the water-eaten log
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the fouled compass
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------------------------------------------------- We are, I am, you are
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by cowardice or courage
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the one who find our way
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20 back to this scene