Marge Piercy has compiled beautiful poems in her seventeen volumes of poetry including Made in Detroit and The Crooked Inheritance. In her poem, “The Tao of Touch,” Marge Piercy spans a wide range of emotions and feelings of nostalgia, love, and longing. The poem’s title talks about the essence of a touch and how it manifests itself in people’s lives (Marge 26). It is in a closed form format with the verses structured regularly unlike in open poems where the verses are free. The poem contains four regular verses and the lines are of equal length. It was published in 2010 in a collection of her book “The Hunger Moon: Selected Poems”. Marge uses poetry techniques such rhetoric questions to create interest for her readers. Additionally, Marge uses vivid description to bring out the importance of a touch. The use of imagery is evident throughout the poem such as metaphors and simile; “Yet the touch of a stranger the bumping or predatory thrust in the subway is like a slap,” (Marge 8). The poem gives a feeling of what it's like to be human with the simplicity of a touch. It claims that human beings crave to feel a sense of belonging to a single touch such as that from a baby, a lover, or a pet. According to the poem, we all need love to survive, to be happy, and to belong in this world. One of the poem's themes that really I really find meaningful is the theme of belonging or finding an identity through love. It is through a touch that we get a sense of identity and belonging especially from loved ones.
The power of touch is not one to underestimate. It is of utmost importance to understand that Marge tries to show her readers that people need love in one way or another and what can be perfect than a touch? ‘The tao of touch" is written with such a simple complexity that one easily gets the message. It is original and striking in the use of words that are not too complex. The first line of the poem, "What magic does touch create that we crave it so (Marge 1)," poses a question to the readers. In reference to the second line of the poem, the power of touch has the magic of soothing for example for babies; "that babies do not thrive without it (Marge 2." It is from a single touch that one can smile or laugh because of the knowledge of being loved. Hence, touch has been accorded to have a supernatural power which is magic because no one can explain how its effects can be so strongly felt. I feel that poets try to take readers to a place where it is easy to question life's wonders without thinking it’s cynical. In this fantasy world, we can believe anything is possible, and perhaps things are meant to be the way they are because of a much higher force difficult to explain. It is for this reason that people crave for touch as human beings because it is a powerful force that cannot be escaped.
A touch gives people a sense of belonging in society. It is from a touch that we know we are loved, cared for, and appreciated. When one lovingly touches a pet, they hang around you because they know they belong. A pet will stick around your home not because of the food you give but because of the knowledge that it is wanted or cared for; "It is our hands that tamed cats into pets, not our food," (Marge 13). It is the same feeling people get when we touch them. They feel like they belong and that they are loved; "We long for the familiar, the open palm of love, its tender fingers," (Marge 11). Nobody wants to feel alone in this world because no man is an island. The feeling of loneliness is one that comes with depression. That is why we all want to feel like we belong in this world. It can be in a family, a group of friends, at work, or at school. That is why in "The tao of touch," the window is contemplating on her life with a lot of nostalgia and longing because she has nobody to love her. She ponders on the thought whether someone will ever touch her again; “The old woman looks in the mirror thinking, no one will ever touch me again, never. Not hold me," (Marge 15). This shows that everybody needs to feel the love from a touch regardless of how old we are because it gives a sense of belonging.
In conclusion, Marge Piercy's poem, "The tao of touch," is one of great emotion. In the poem, Marge gives a vivid description of the power of simple touch and weaves it into the social spectrum that it is in society. It shows that human beings crave for touch because it makes us human and also gives us a sense of belonging. That in every sphere of the world the touch is a powerful tool in bringing people together. It helps us appreciate the fact that we should do well to others even our pets. The touch is used as a tool to signal so many things; "We touch each other so many ways, in curiosity, in anger, to command attention, to soothe, to quiet, to rouse, to cure," (Marge 22). Thus, we should not underestimate the power of touch and the role it plays in our society.
Work cited
Marge Piercy. “The Tao of Touch;” The Hunger Mood: Selected Poems, 1980-2010. Published in Prairie Schooner, Vol. 84, #2, 2010. Print.
