This week marks the anniversary of the birthday of poet-writer-humanist-activist Grace Paley. Of course, Paley was also pro-choice and a feminist. Although she died three years ago, Paley's ability to see the ground and the sky at the same time, to reach into her heart and to inspire others with her words is very much alive. What better time than the end of a difficult year to be reminded of her words-in-activism?Judith Arcana, author of the literary biography, Grace Paley's Life Stories, takes this week to do just that.
In a radio interview on KBOO-FM in Oregon, Arcana tells tales and reads from Paley's poetry and writings. Listen here: Radio Stories About On Grace Paley, well-worth a listen.
One of the pieces read on the show is "Responsibility," which was republished in the Spring 2009 edition of On The Issues Magazine, and is excerpted below:
....There is no freedom without fear and bravery there is no
freedom unless
earth and air and water continue and children
also continue
It is the responsibility of the poet to be a woman to keep an eye on
this world and cry out like Cassandra, but be
listened to this time.
Judith also put together some thoughts and activist ideas:
Grace Paley was a great writer, loved and respected all over the world. She was also an activist, working on anti-militarism, the conditions of women’s lives, and urgent environmental issues.
Grace understood that sometimes cops or soldiers in the street are angry or scared enough to be cruel and violent. Yet she said, I don’t think the thing for me has been “civil disobedience” so much as the importance of not asking permission. And, Non-violence does not mean personal safety. Pacifism is not passive-ism.
Grace Paley’s work was writing and political action; she used both to seek truth and justice. Born in 1922, she died in 2007.
Some of the things she wrote and said:
* To get birth control [when I was young] … you had to be older and married. YouAnd a delightful essay, "Grace Paley's True North: Justice in Writing and Action" by Judith Arcana.
couldn’t get anything in drugstores, unless you were terribly sick and had to
buy a diaphragm because your womb was falling out. … I was eighteen, and it was
1940 when I tiptoed in to get a diaphragm. I said I was married. … My generation
– and only in our later years – and the one right after mine have been the only
ones to really enjoy any sexual freedom. The kids have to know that it’s not
just the right to abortion which is essential; it’s their right to a sexual
life.
* Lots of literature comes from … not knowing. It comes from what
you’re curious about. It comes from what obsesses you. It comes from what you
want to know. … You write from what you know, but you write into what you don’t
know.
* You are going to leave the world, right? So you really hate to
leave it in worse shape than you found it. I have a certain degree of
hopefulness, but I don’t think it means anything unless we really continue to
look, to look at the earth, the way poets do.
Posted by Cindy Cooper
Pictured above, photo of Grace Paley from Judith Arcana website
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