Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Alicia Suskin Ostriker's poem "The Runner," dedicated to the influential poet and activist Muriel Rukeyser, captures the intense, almost mystical experience of a woman running—a journey that becomes a metaphor for struggle, endurance, and the transcendence of physical and emotional limits. The poem delves into themes of perseverance, the intersection of the personal and the political, and the profound connection between body and spirit.

The poem opens with a vivid image: "Sweat glides on the forehead of the gasping runner / Who runs of necessity, who runs possibly for love, / For truth, for death." This introduces the runner not merely as someone engaged in physical exercise, but as a figure driven by deep, existential motivations. The ambiguity of her purpose—whether she runs for love, truth, or death—suggests that her journey is symbolic of a broader human quest for meaning. The sweat on her forehead underscores the physical toll of her exertion, while also hinting at the purifying, almost sacrificial nature of her effort.

Behind the runner lies "a battlefield," a potent metaphor that evokes the struggles and conflicts she has already faced. The battlefield, with its "dust falls," represents the past, a place of turmoil that she is trying to leave behind. In contrast, the road ahead "eats a plateau, leads into streets and buildings, / A beach, and the excavation of motherly ocean." This imagery of the road leading to various landscapes—urban, natural, and oceanic—suggests a journey through different facets of life, moving from the chaos of the battlefield to the promise of something more nurturing and peaceful, symbolized by the "motherly ocean" and the "innocent sky."

As the runner continues, her body becomes increasingly central to the poem's imagery. "Sweat trickles between her breasts, evaporates," signaling the fleeting, transient nature of physical sensations, even as the runner remains intensely aware of her body's responses. The poem describes how "the runner, seeing bright bone under brown landscape / Where one of us would see rocks, bushes, houses," begins to feel an internal fire. This suggests that the runner perceives the world in a heightened, almost visionary state, where ordinary objects are imbued with deeper, more elemental significance.

The metaphor of fire "invading a body" is particularly striking. It begins "first [with] the splinters / And crumpled paper, then the middle wood / And the great damp logs splendidly catching." The fire represents the runner's growing intensity and passion, as her physical exertion transforms into something transcendent. The process of the fire catching and building mirrors the escalating challenge of her run, where each stride becomes "like pulling an iron railing / Uphill."

The poem reaches a crescendo with the description of the runner's experience as "so like fireworks, / Hissing, exploding, flaring in darkness," comparing the physical and emotional intensity of her run to the explosive beauty of fireworks or the overwhelming passion of "a long kiss that she cannot stop." These images convey the runner's immersion in her own physicality, where pain and pleasure blur together in a powerful, almost overwhelming experience.

The poem then shifts to a moment of transcendence: "the runner is floating, / She becomes herself a torch, she is writing in fire." This transformation suggests that the runner, through her intense effort and perseverance, has transcended her physical limitations, becoming a symbol of triumph and endurance. The image of her "writing in fire" evokes the idea of leaving a lasting mark, of her struggle and journey being immortalized in a way that transcends language.

The final lines, "Rejoice, we have triumphed, rejoice, / We have triumphed," carry a sense of collective victory, as though the runner's personal triumph is shared by all who witness or understand her journey. However, the poem concludes with a note of ambiguity: "Although words, although language / Must be useless / To the runner." This suggests that the runner's experience is ultimately beyond the reach of language, that the profound truths she encounters in her journey are inexpressible and can only be fully understood through the physical and spiritual act of running itself.

"The Runner" is a powerful meditation on the intersection of physical endurance and spiritual transcendence. Through vivid imagery and dynamic metaphors, Alicia Suskin Ostriker captures the runner's journey as a metaphor for the human condition—marked by struggle, passion, and the relentless pursuit of meaning. The poem pays tribute to the resilience of the human spirit and the capacity to find beauty and triumph even in the face of immense challenges.

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