On Agency
Winged or fallen;
Gabriel? Moloch?
Rule in Hell or
Serve in Heaven?
Natural or supernatural?
G-man or foreign?
Secret or free?
Or maybe chemical.
Agent Orange.
From the Latin agere.
In the driver’s seat.
To steer, brake, accelerate.
For women free will.
The heroine drives the plot
Active, not passive,
Contrary to Hawthorne’s
Georgiana, say,
Or maybe not, since
“Hawthorne grants her at the end
A slight touch of
The satisfaction of revenge”
(quoth Judith Fetterley).
Exerting power.
Think of Grace Paley’s
Open destiny.
Tillie Olsen’s “She is more than this dress
On the ironing board,
Helpless before the iron.”
My possibility, my responsibility
Insists my 20-something niece
echoing my 40-something daughter,
my 60-something wife.
My body, my self.
My destiny.
Unless we enlist
One who acts for,
In the interests of,
At directions by a client.
Literary agent, fiscal agent,
Real estate agent, lawyer,
Shop steward,
Elected official.
Together we stand,
Empower and resist.
Collective agents.
Agents for change.
All lived no less by powers
involuntary and strange:
That isn’t/wasn’t me!
“My eyes have seen
What my hand did.”
“Keep your hands to
Yourself!”