On the black wet branches of the linden,
still clinging to the umber leaves of late fall,
two crows land. They say, Stop, and still I want
to make them into something they are not.
Odin’s ravens, the bruja’s eyes. What news
are they bringing of our world to the world
of the gods? It can’t be good. More suffering
all around, more stinging nettles and toxic
blades shoved into the scarred parts of us,
the minor ones underneath the trees. Rain
comes while I’m still standing, a trickle of water
from whatever we believe is beyond the sky.
The crows seem enormous but only because
I am watching them too closely. They do not
care to be seen as symbols. A shake of a wing,
and both of them are gone. There was no message
given, no message I was asked to give, only
their great absence and my sad privacy
returning like the bracing, empty wind
on the black wet branches of the linden.
Ada Limón’s “Privacy” is a poem about loneliness and the limits of our understanding.
- While Ada Limón does not use a fixed rhyme scheme in her poem “Privacy,” there a few slant or half-rhymes scattered throughout the piece. When you read the poem aloud, are there any specific rhymes that stand out to you? What about them grabs your attention?
- The first line of “Privacy” (“On the black wet branches of the linden”) is repeated later in the poem. Where is this repetition? How does it feel to come back to this line?
- There are several lines in Limón’s poem that suggest the limits of the speaker’s understanding or knowledge. Where do you feel this uncertainty? What effect does this uncertainty have on your reading of the poem?
- Early in the poem, the speaker encounters two crows. The speaker notes, “I want / to make them into something they are not.” Further down, we read, “They do not / care to be seen as symbols. A shake of a wing, / and both of them are gone.” How do these animals and the speaker interact? Are the crows mere symbols in this poem, or are they playing an active role?
- The word “privacy” is found once in the poem itself, right towards the end. Here, Limón uses a simile—a direct comparison using “like” or “as”— to compare the speaker’s “sad privacy” to “the bracing, empty wind.” What is the significance of this simile? What does it tell you about the speaker’s perception of their privacy?
Writing activity: Write your own poem about an encounter between a person (you or someone else) and an animal or two. As a nod to Limón, have the first line of your poem repeat at least once.
Useful Links
Ada Limón has her own website—check it out: https://adalimon.com/
Listen to Ada Limón recite her poem “Privacy”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FYFUyZiDJQ
Read this definition of rhyme for more information about half-rhyme/slant rhyme: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/education/glossary/rhyme
Limón, Ada, "Privacy" from The Hurting Kind 2022, Corsair Poetry. Griffin Poetry Prize 2023 Finalist. Used with permission from The Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry.