Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) was an American poet, feminist, and lesbian activist. Her early poetry, which was greatly admired by W.H. Auden, was quite formal. However, as she struggled with the repressiveness of the 1950s and patriarchal society, she broke away from formalism to free verse. She is one of the few poets I can think of who was able to master both of these disparate forms.

Three things that typically characterize her poetry are:

• The Personal is Political: She did not see a boundary between her private life (as a mother, a wife, and later a lesbian) and the public world.
• Extended Metaphor: She frequently centers a poem around a single metaphor that allows her to explore complex ideas and concepts.
• Directness: She used “common language” to ensure that her message was accessible to everyone.

Here is her poem “What Kind of Times Are These.”

Enjoy!

WHAT KIND OF TIMES ARE THESE
  by Adrienne Rich

There's a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill
and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows
near a meeting-house abandoned by the persecuted
who disappeared into those shadows.

I've walked there picking mushrooms at the edge of dread, but don't be fooled
this isn't a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else but here,
our country moving closer to its own truth and dread,
its own ways of making people disappear.

I won't tell you where the place is, the dark mesh of the woods
meeting the unmarked strip of light—
ghost-ridden crossroads, leafmold paradise:
I know already who wants to buy it, sell it, make it disappear.

And I won't tell you where it is, so why do I tell you
anything? Because you still listen, because in times like these
to have you listen at all, it's necessary
to talk about trees.

LISTENING WITH A PENCIL AND MY EAR

All three aspects mentioned above that typically characterize Rich’s poetry are present to some extent in “What Kind of Times are These.” The use of “Common Language” here and in my other favorite Rich poems rather than indirect or “flowery” language is one of the things I have always admired most about her work.

As near as I can tell, this poem was written in the 1990s. That also happens to be the time period that I ended up reading a lot of Rich’s poetry. .

Here are the lines that stand out for me::

I know already who wants to buy it, sell it, make it disappear.

* * * * * *

it’s necessary
to talk about trees.

This poem, and Rich’s free verse poems more broadly, have a way of making the political feel deeply personal. I would like to humbly suggest that Rich may be just the prescription you need in these unprecedented days.

Check her out!