This poem is a clear indictment on blog culture and its obsession with "I".... and, yes, "I" include "myself" among the guilty....
Reduced to 'I'
by Adrienne Rich
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 the rags of fog
where we stood, saying I
Source: Inward/Outward
Adrienne Rich lives in our neighborhood and one day I came across her trying to park her car at Book Cafe and she was blocked by a Brinks truck. I stepped up like a traffic cop and helped direct her into her spot. 10 minutes later as I was purusing the nonfiction bestsellers she came up and we had quite a conversation about the perils of parking lot driving.....I don't think the word "I" was spoken..;-)
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