Pages

27 Jan: "Mourning What We Thought We Were" by Frank Bidart


We were born into an amazing experiment.
At least we thought we were. We knew there was noescaping human nature: my grandmother
taught me that: my own pitiless naturetaught me that: but we exist inside an order, I
thought, of which historyis the mere shadow—
*
Every serious work of art about America has the sametheme: America
is a great Idea: the reality leaves something to be desired.
Bakersfield. Marian Anderson, the first great black classicalcontralto, whom the Daughters of the American Revolution
would not allow to sing in an unsegregated
Constitution Hall, who then was asked by EleanorRoosevelt to sing at the Lincoln Memorial before thousands
was refused a room at the Padre Hotel, Bakersfield.
My mother’s disgustas she told me this. It confirmed her judgment about
what she never could escape, where she lived out her life.
My grandmother’s fury when, at the age of seven oreight, I had eaten at the home of a black friend. 
The forced camps at the end of The Grapes of Wrathwere outside
Bakersfield. When I was a kid, Okie
was still a commonterm of casual derision and contempt.
*
So it was up to us, bornin Bakersfield, to carve a new history
of which history is the mere shadow—
*
To further the history of the spirit is our work:
therefore thank you, LordWhose Bounty Proceeds by Paradox,
for showing us we have failed to change.
*
Dark night, December 1st 2016.
White supremacists, once again inAmerica, are acceptable, respectable. America!
Bakersfield was first swamp, thendesert. We are sons of the desertwho cultivate the top half-inch of soil.

1 comment:

  1. "The Human Experiment"- starts by equalizing ALL...each are born.
    And THEN the segregation begins....in mind/nature divides. Talks on history and of today and how we think we are learning something about this human experiment, but once again find ourselves divided. How to come back to the beginning where "when cut the same would both bleed" (similar concept from my Dad).

    paraphrasing- our own individual "pitiless nature" teaches us so...we think we are become purified in mind on one topic only to find it dirtied somewhere in the future....a slate for us to again wipe clean. Is "perfection" really the end result? Or is there something we really do keep missing...

    ReplyDelete