The scream
of an illegitimate voice
It has ceased to hear itself, therefore
it asks itself
How do I exist?”
Riche has often stated the importance of telling one’s own story. In this poem, she describes the sad reality of those unable to use their voice in such a way. The voices of minorities are referred to as “illegitimate”, because of how strongly the forces of society work against them. She also speaks to the frustration of a person in this situation, imagining that they not simply speak, but scream to be heard. Minorities have a history of being robbed of their chance to immortalize their voice and therefore immortalize themselves. Here, Riche uses very poignant language to refer to dealing with this idea of being unheard. She even goes so far as to question whether an unheard voice even exists.
What I am really trying to say here is I think Riche is writing in honor of those that have lived their lives without being allowed to fully exist—the minorities so unfairly neglected by the world.
I agree with your thoughts on these lines. When reading this section of the poem, I found a lot of the word choice to be very interesting. For example, Rich chose to use the word “scream” which is typically associated with fear and violence to describe someones voice. This instantly victimizes the person’s voice, and makes the reader believe she is referencing minorities. These four lines remind me of a situation when someone is in a large group of people, and everybody’s talking about the big thing the news is covering. As a person with an opinion, you try to put in your two-cents but, people just continuously talk over you. So, you silence yourself, because clearly no one really cares about your voice.
Similar to “the art of silence”, Rich emphasizes how the lack of using words to express yourself lays out a predetermined life for someone. If you do not go against society yet want to live your normal life against the lines created for you, you will not get anywhere if you do not speak it into existence. There will no be no changes if you are too frightened to pursue your own goals and lifestyle. There is as much danger in being silence as there is in living in a restricted society.
I agree with your thoughts about it being a commentary on the voices of minorities. What I think is really interesting is the fact that Rich says “it ceased to hear itself , therefore it asked itself how do I exist?”. This shows how after years and years of being oppressed and told that no one else can hear you, eventually you will stop being able to hear yourself.