Blog post #1 redone

‘the drowned face always staring
toward the sun’

‘of our human air.’

‘and checked the edge of the knife-blade,’

‘the body-armor of black rubber’

‘I crawl like an insect down the ladder.’

‘to tell me when the ocean will begin.’

‘the sea is another story’

‘you breathe differently down here.’

‘and the treasures that prevail.’

‘And I am here, the mermaid whose dark hair
streams black, the merman in his armored body.’

‘whose drowned face sleeps with open eyes
whose breasts still bear the stress
whose silver, copper, vermeil cargo lies’

‘We are, I am, you are
by cowardice or courage’

‘carrying a knife, a camera
a book of myths
in which
our names do not appear.’

‘and the treasures that prevail.’

‘the evidence of damage
worn by salt and away into this threadbare beauty’


Adrienne Rich is portraying the wreck as an attraction that exists in another world. ‘The sea is another story’ portrays the ocean as an alien world that few wish to explore beyond the surface. The ocean is fundamentally different according to Rich, devoid of our ‘human air’ and other qualities of surface life. The author illustrates the ocean as the last unexplored frontier where ‘threadbare beauty’ can be found in the form of wrecks, coral reefs, and abundant sea life.

The fact that an adventurer must travel with ‘body-armor of black rubber’ and a ‘knife-blade,’ portrays the ocean as an openly hostile place that requires tools to protect the fragile human body. Rich’s imagery illustrates the ocean with dangerous obstacles that must be surmounted by a ‘merman in his armored body,’ an image that does not only bring up the necessity of the tools required but also the required personality to achieve success in the deep.

The few who do, must venture on their own as there will be no one ‘to tell [her] when the ocean will begin.’ The author labels the wayward adventurer as a person that needs character traits that are different from mainstream society. People that navigate the depths must be motivated by extreme emotion. The adventurers who find themselves along the ‘threadbare beauty’ can attribute their presence at the scene to ‘cowardice or courage.’ These are motivators that differentiate the sea adventurer from others. The author reminds us that exploring the sea requires humans to change from their environment that they are accustomed to. The reason she ‘crawl[s] like an insect down the ladder,’ is because she cannot enter the ocean with human behavior.

The author’s use of ‘mermaid’ and ‘merman’ to describe herself as she explores the ocean also underscores the author’s belief that the ocean is not meant for mainstream society. The author illustrates the image that an adventurer must become a creature of the sea in order to seek ‘the treasures that prevail.’