Brooks on Addams

Here is a poem written by Gwendolyn Brooks about Jane Addams. It was published in the posthumous collection In Montgomery: And Other Poems. This was the book Brooks was working on when she passed away in 2000. Chicago's Third World Press published it in 2003. I am typing this from a letterpressed broadside, rather than from the book, so it is quite probable that the line breaks are inaccurate.

(A side note regarding Jane Addams that I discovered this week: Her father and Emily Dickinson's father were both involved in politics at the same time. Addams's father served in the IL state senate from 1854-1870; Emily Dickinson's father served in the MA senate from 1842-43 and then in Congress 1853-1855.)

Jenn


JANE ADDAMS


I am Jane Addams.

I am saying to the giantless time-
to the young and yammering, to the old and corrected,
well, chiefly to the children coming home
with worried faces and questions about world survival-
"Go ahead and live your life.
You might be surprised.
The world might continue."

It was not easy for me, in the days of the giants.
Ans now they call me a giant.
Because my capitals were LABOUR, REFORM, WELFARE,
TENEMENT REGULATION, JUVENILE COURT (the first),
FACTORY INSPECTION, WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION,
WOMAN SUFFRAGE, PACIFISM, IMMIGRANT JUSTICE.
And because
Black, brown, and white and red and yellow
heavied my hand and heart.

I shall tell you a thing about giants
that you do not wish to know:
Giants look in the mirror and see
almost nothing at all,
But they leave their houses nevertheless.
They lurch out of doors
to reach you, the other stretchers and strainers.