{"id":3253,"date":"2019-11-15T09:31:36","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T14:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3253"},"modified":"2019-11-15T09:31:36","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T14:31:36","slug":"nov-15-a-second-poem-written-in-praise-of-women-and-men-who-show-up-for-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2019\/11\/15\/nov-15-a-second-poem-written-in-praise-of-women-and-men-who-show-up-for-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Nov 15, a second poem written in praise of women and men who show up for work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Friday, November 15<\/p>\n<p>\u201c . . . people . .\u00a0.<br \/>\nwho\u00a0strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward<br \/>\nwho do what has to be done, again and again\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday\u2019s Jamaal May poem, \u201cShift\u201d inspired one of our English faculty to post &amp; call \u201cShift\u201d \u201canother wonderful post\u201d \u00a0(Thank you, Heather) and introduce me to Marge Piercy\u2019s \u201cTo be of Use.\u201d \u00a0 Flint hard language in tightly woven poems . . . \u00a0\u00a0Yes, they make the world go round, no matter how deep the mud and the muck.<\/p>\n<p>Best to read the poem out loud, with pauses and, maybe tip one\u2019s hat to our English Department.<\/p>\n<p>Have a blest weekend,<\/p>\n<p>john sj<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Today\u2019s\u00a0Post:<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0Marge Piercy \u00a0\u201cTo be of Use\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The people I love the best<br \/>\njump into work head first<br \/>\nwithout dallying in the shallows<br \/>\nand swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.<br \/>\nThey seem to become natives of that element,<br \/>\nthe black sleek heads of seals<br \/>\nbouncing like half-submerged balls.<\/p>\n<p>I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,<br \/>\nwho pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,<br \/>\nwho strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,<br \/>\nwho do what has to be done, again and again.<\/p>\n<p>I want to be with people who submerge<br \/>\nin the task, who go into the fields to harvest<br \/>\nand work in a row and pass the bags along,<br \/>\nwho are not parlor generals and field deserters<br \/>\nbut move in a common rhythm<br \/>\nwhen the food must come in or the fire be put out.<\/p>\n<p>The work of the world is common as mud.<br \/>\nBotched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.<br \/>\nBut the thing worth doing well done<br \/>\nhas a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.<br \/>\nGreek amphoras for wine or oil,<br \/>\nHopi vases that held corn, are put in museums<br \/>\nbut you know they were made to be used.<br \/>\nThe pitcher cries for water to carry<br \/>\nand a person for work that is real.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cto be of use\u201d<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/owlcation.com\/humanities\/An-Analysis-of-To-Be-of-Use-by-Marge-Piercy\">https:\/\/owlcation.com\/humanities\/An-Analysis-of-To-Be-of-Use-by-Marge-Piercy<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2019\/11\/Marge-Piercy.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3254\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2019\/11\/Marge-Piercy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"223\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Marge Piercy, March 31, 1936<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Marge_Piercy\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Marge_Piercy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Friday, November 15 \u201c . . . people . .\u00a0. who\u00a0strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward who do what has to be done, again and again\u201d Wednesday\u2019s Jamaal May poem, \u201cShift\u201d inspired one of our &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2019\/11\/15\/nov-15-a-second-poem-written-in-praise-of-women-and-men-who-show-up-for-work\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3253"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3253"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3256,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3253\/revisions\/3256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}