By — Margaret Myers Margaret Myers Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/weekly-poem-jennifer-michael-hecht-reads-split Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Jennifer Michael Hecht Reads ‘Split’ Arts Sep 18, 2013 2:17 PM EDT “Split” By Jennifer Michael Hecht We speak of rebellion when the kid is a hellion and the folks are so mild as a spoon. Likewise Republicans born of freethinking lesbians seem like reactors, turncoats on how they were raised. Let me offer another concatenation of this explanation. Think of your mother as one discreet corner of a person with a multiple mental disorder. You’re one of the others. One that split off. Not a turncoat then, but the expression of what was suppressed. This same woman, your mother, who wants to help others, also likes life as a racket where the best finagler wins. For reasons we do not fully assemble, she cannot voice this redder side of her nature, and the voicing of it, that is you. You are not teaching the former generation. Their frenzied distaste in certain directions was the cue you used to decipher the code of just how you were not to do as you were being told. Reprinted with permission from Copper Canyon Press. Jennifer Michael Hecht is a poet, historian, philosopher and author. She has written several books of nonfiction including “Doubt: A History” and “The Happiness Myth.” Her latest collection of poetry is titled “Who Said.” She teaches at The New School and Columbia University in New York. By — Margaret Myers Margaret Myers Margaret Myers is the former Digital News Editor for PBS NewsHour. She is a former editor for ESPN.com. She also led the features department at the Amarillo Globe-News in west Texas. @margaretvm
“Split” By Jennifer Michael Hecht We speak of rebellion when the kid is a hellion and the folks are so mild as a spoon. Likewise Republicans born of freethinking lesbians seem like reactors, turncoats on how they were raised. Let me offer another concatenation of this explanation. Think of your mother as one discreet corner of a person with a multiple mental disorder. You’re one of the others. One that split off. Not a turncoat then, but the expression of what was suppressed. This same woman, your mother, who wants to help others, also likes life as a racket where the best finagler wins. For reasons we do not fully assemble, she cannot voice this redder side of her nature, and the voicing of it, that is you. You are not teaching the former generation. Their frenzied distaste in certain directions was the cue you used to decipher the code of just how you were not to do as you were being told. Reprinted with permission from Copper Canyon Press. Jennifer Michael Hecht is a poet, historian, philosopher and author. She has written several books of nonfiction including “Doubt: A History” and “The Happiness Myth.” Her latest collection of poetry is titled “Who Said.” She teaches at The New School and Columbia University in New York.