Don’t Hold The Door

We at Tate Street High Society apologize for our sporadic posts of late–it’s thesis time in the MFA world, and many of our members are up to their neck in it. But we at Tate Street High Society are also poets, and feminists at that, so of course we have to take a moment to remember Adrienne Rich, who passed away this week at the age of 82.

Accounts of Adrienne’s poetry and life are popping up everywhere on the net in the wake of her death, and rightfully so. W. H. Auden selected Adrienne as the winner of the Yale Younger Poets award while she was still an undergraduate at Radcliffe, and she’s been making waves ever since. For our part, the Tate Street High Society offers this anecdote passed down from a very literary grandfather of ours:

When Adrienne came to town for an event, it was Grandpa Larry’s job to pick her up from the airport. Always the gentleman, Larry held the door for Ms. Rich as she exited the building. Bad call, Larry. Adrienne scoffed at the gesture, and with that Larry lost pretty much any chance of winning her over.

We’ll miss you, Adrienne, but we won’t hold the door for you as you go.