Tess Gallagher's Refusing Silence

‘’On the sacred branch of my only voice/ -I insist./ Insist for us all,/ which is the job/ of the voice,and especially/ of the poet.Else what am I for,what use am I for, what use am I if I don’t insist?’’ This was the very crucial question raised in the poem, Refusing Silence by Tess Gallagher. In her poem, Tess Gallagher creates a momento revolving around not only what poets do,but what they should do if they don’t create poems. In doing this however, she writes her poem in a lyric style, while conveying repetition,hyperboles,and rhythms to aid in creating the poem.

This poem dramatizes the conflict between a mystery and emancipation, due to the poet’s unique play on shrouding her words like a morning fog and yet clearly wanting people to recognize something more. From the poem, the poet states that there is a ‘’heart trembling’’ (8) within a figurative kingdom created from leaves, and explains that they have delayed for far too long. The poet also notes that
First, since the speaker heavily relies on stating that it is there ‘’job’’ to ‘’insist’’, there voice upon the audience, the reader may find that the sense of repeating these terms is a method of instructing them to follow the voice of the speaker in appraisal.Secondly, the speaker not only addresses that she is tired of having (‘’delayed’’(7) her voice, but she does so in a way that emphasizes an extreme exaggeration to it.Which is further supported by the fact that she sarcastically begins to question what other choice she would have in this given situation? Finally, the poet illustrates a cunning method within their refusal of silence, through rhyming words such as ‘’I’’,’’for’’, and ‘’of’’ .This of course allows for an empowerment that the speaker can now enjoy knowing that it can be