Quotation by Muriel Rukeyser

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Ajanta as quoted in What is Found There by Adrienne Rich (1993)Boy with His Hair Cut Short "City of Monuments" (1934)"Despisals" (1973)

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feminism (3) homosexuality (2) identity (2) freedom (2) race relations (2) Christians (2) prejudice (2) Christianity (2) patience (2) love (1)

Never to despise in myself what I have been taught
to despise. Nor to despise the other.
Not to despise the it. To make this relation
with the it: to know that I am it.

Muriel Rukeyser

Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980), U.S. poet. "Despisals," lines 21-24 (1973).

Raised in wealth, Rukeyser affiliated with the Communist Party in the 1930s and was a strong advocate of social reform, social justice, and nonviolence. She was also a feminist and was bisexual or lesbian. Homosexuality is mentioned earlier in this poem.

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