18 pages • 36-minute read
Poem about My Rights
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Symbols & Motifs
Wrong
The idea of being wrong, or having something about oneself be wrong, is a core motif in “Poem About My Rights.” Wrongness is primarily attached to the speaker but is also later used as a descriptor for other elements of the poem. The language of “wrong” calls to mind both education, which is mentioned several times, as well as moral and religious views on people being right or wrong in their behavior or characteristics.
In many separate instances, the speaker describes herself as wrong: “the wrong / sex” (Lines 8-9), “the wrong skin” (Line 55), and being “wrong / to be who I am” (Lines 32-33), among others. These phrases are both directly and indirectly repeated throughout the poem, creating a cyclical intensity to the way the speaker’s wrongness impacts both her life and the plot of the poem. The wrongness is woven into both how her family of origin treat her, how “the teachers / and the preachers” (Lines 71-72) perceive her, and how other countries are treated. The concluding rebuttal of all these descriptions, when the speaker states, “Wrong is not my name” (Line 109), is a pronouncement of goodness and value in the face of many institutions and global systems that do not see this speaker, or people like her, as right.
The CIA and FBI
The CIA and FBI are twice mentioned, together serving as a key symbol for government control beyond the understanding of the common person. Since “Poem About My Rights” is primarily a personal narrative, it doesn’t read as a statement against the government, or even as a philosophical argument about the authorities. Thus, the inclusion of these two American government agencies stands out and impacts the overall flow of the poem both in rhythm and content.
As capitalized, punctuated titles, both “C.I.A.” (Line 49, Line 68) and “F.B.I.” (Line 72, Line 105) serve as lyrical breaks in the flow of the poem. Their names require the reader to pause and pronounce each letter, which is a clear departure from the more rhythmic, repetitive narration in much of the rest of the poem. In this way, Jordan uses CIA and FBI to jar the reader into understanding how the government disrupts ordinary peoples’ lives and experiences, just as the inclusion of the titles disrupts the reading of the poem.
Regarding the content of the poem, the FBI and CIA are the only government representatives directly named, implying that they are symbols for something larger. To Jordan’s speaker, “the problems of the C.I.A.” (Line 68) are intricately connected to all the other problems she faces, both societally and personally. Jordan uses these well-known agencies to represent the ways government control—especially control hidden from the public eye—connects to other forms of injustice, violence, and oppression.
History
History becomes a significant motif to “Poem About My Rights” as the speaker connects her own life to events that came before she was born. The structure of the poem also supports this arc; the speaker opens with a personal account, then connects this to broader sociopolitical events, then finally begins connecting to the history of what happened before, both geographically and legally. History itself is only mentioned four repeated times in Lines 77-81, in perhaps the most distinct turn of the poem. Yet as an idea, connecting to history is a vital aspect of how the speaker weaves her story about her rights.
History is described in an anaphoric section of the poem where the speaker describes herself as “the history of” (Lines 77-79, Line 81) different violent acts. The inclusion of “history” in these lines is not necessary to the structural integrity of the lines; instead, this is an intentional choice to bring history into conversation with this speaker’s life and her observations of the ways different forms of violence are caused through historical, societal oppression.
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