Spirling into the self

“This is the place. 

And I am here, the mermaid whose dark hair

streams black, the merman in his armored body.

We circle silently

about the wreck

we dive into the hold.

I am she: I am he”

Diving into the Wreck (68-74)

Some formal elements of Diving into the Wreck add to the imagery of a diver circling downwards in the ocean, such as line breaks that cut sentences apart creating visually longer stanzas. The idea of diving deeper and looking into the self in a more detailed manner is also supported by drawing out a simple description with the addition of very similar objects and details as in lines 83-86: “we are the half-destroyed instruments / that once held to a course / the water-eaten log / the fouled compass”. This description could have ended at line 84, but continues to spiral into the description of the instruments by introducing them. Rich does this on a larger scale in stanza 8.

This stanza adds new information, like the presence of the merpeople and the act of diving into the hold of the wrecked ship. However, it also repeats motions, feelings, and the reassertion of purpose stated earlier in the poem. Stanza 4 describes what the diver encounters upon moving deeper into the ocean, presenting a color gradient that is new to them and mentally and physically taxing. In stanza 8 this is mirrored in the encounter with the merpeople. Instead of color gradients, this time the diver sees the merpeople which represent different gradients of the diver’s self. Stanza 4 continues with the diver’s statement that they “have to learn alone / to turn [their] body without force / in the deep element” (41-43). This connects to line 71 where the motion is repeated in the silent, slow circle around the wreck. Back in stanza 5 it is shown that at this point the diver has lost track of the purpose of the dive, which is then reaffirmed in stanzas 6 and 7. This translates well into the imagery of stanza 8 because the silent circle performed at depth by fantastical entities and an absurdly outfitted diver come across as slow and steady, with time for distracted thought and interest in the other creatures, due to the rhythm of the short lines of the poem that slowly march downwards. Finally, in accordance with the statement that the diver came for the wreck itself (58) the diver and both their other selves “dive into the hold” (73), breaking away from the distraction of restating the purpose and circling and moving back into description and understanding with the affirming statement of “I am she: I am he” (74). The longer, more detailed description of the dive in stanzas 1-7 paired with the shorter, more general experience of it shown in stanza 8 allows the diver to shift through many details at the micro and macro level, while also compounding the feeling that the poem spirals continuously in on itself just as an exploration of self does.