My very good friend Rex Winn introduced me to the poet Grace Paley, who has not only been known for her literature and poetry, but also for activism for the cause of peace and feminism.
Born in the Bronx in 1922, Grace Paley was the first recipient of the Edith Wharton Citation of Merit. She is the author of three highly acclaimed collections of short fiction--The Little Disturbances of Man (1959), Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1974), and Later the Same Day (1985)--as well as three collections of poetry. She received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1961, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1966, and an award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1970. And in the Spring of 1987, she was awarded a Senior Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts, in recognition of her lifetime contribution to literature.
The first poem I read of Paley's was titled "In the Bus." Rex counts this as one of the classics.
In the Bus
Somewhere between Greenfield and Holyoke
snow became rain
and a child passed through me
as a person moves through mist
as the moon moves through
a dense cloud at night
as though I were a cloud or mist
as child passed through me
On the highway that lies
across miles of stubble
and tobacco barns our bus speeding
speeding disordered the slanty rain
and a girl with no name naked
wearing the last nakedness of
childhood breathed in me
once no
two breaths
a sigh she whispered Hey you
begin again
Again?
again again you'll see
it's easy begin again long ago
For more reading on Grace Paley, read her interview with Salon magazine about the moral obligation of writers, from October of 1998. Or this great interview with The Guardian titled Keeping the Faith, in which is published an incredible poem regarding the dichotomy between the lives of men and women. Yes, if you appreciate poetry, check it out. Amazing.
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