Wade in the Water

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2018

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

Bridging Distance through the Power of Art

At the start of the poem, the speaker is at a safe distance from the horrors of slavery. She is a 21st-century audience member at a performance by a group whose culture has retained a strong connection to their ancestors, ancestors who were once enslaved. Ironically, the Gullah Geechee have retained their closeness to their African roots as a result of their distance from the mainland and its pressures to assimilate and gentrify. Before bridges, air conditioning, and the development of beachfront condos, the Gullah did not have much opportunity to interact and assimilate with their mainland neighbors. Lack of bridges allowed the Gullah culture to remain strong.

As bridges were built from the mainland to the islands, the culture of the Gullah people became threatened by those who wanted to develop their lands for high-profit resorts and tourist dollars. But the Gullah transformed this interaction by taking control of their narrative. They recognized the need to build bridges not out of tourist dollars but out of art. Their “ring shout” performances are artistic bridges, showing the necessity of preserving culture and history. They refuse erasure by a materialistic culture but instead insist on their identity through the legacy of art.

Smith also hopes to use art to build bridges. The speaker often calls attention to theatrical aspects, using words such as “performance” (Line 13) and “pretended to wade” (Line 21). These call attention to the artifice of the ring shout. The speaker employs everyday language to describe the movements of the dancers as they sing and dance in a circular, ritualistic fashion. This structure allows for a powerful intimacy, allowing the speaker and the rest of the audience to come together and “let ourselves feel” (Line 30). The non-Gullah speaker begins the poem at a distance because she does not wear the clothes, speak the language, or know the rituals of the Gullah people. And yet, the power of art allows love not money to bridge this distance. Art creates a space and structure that allows people, no matter how seemingly different, to create community.

Transforming Pain through Love for the Other

The poisonous legacy of slavery endured well beyond the end of the Civil War. The Gullah are descendants of the enslaved who, once they were freed, ended up buying land once the plantations on the coastal areas of Georgia and South Carolina were abandoned. These formerly enslaved passed down the pain of their experiences to later generations through song and dance, seen especially in the ring shout. While the ring shout has evolved, the Gullah perform it for modern audiences as a way of preserving history and reminding audiences of a not-too-distant past.

But the Gullah ring shout performance is not simply a lesson about historical preservation; it is about transformation. Smith doesn’t focus on modern threats to the Gullah Geechee culture. In fact, in this poem, outsiders are not portrayed as a threat. Instead, the Gullah performers invite the outsiders into the ring. They invite them to join the circle, embracing the audience in love. But this love is bittersweet. By receiving this love, the relationship requires an understanding of the Other. It requires understanding the complexity of the Other. One must learn empathy to step, shuffle, and stomp in the Other’s shoes. One cannot be passive but must be involved in the work of love. Only then can art heal and transform.

The Call for Community

There is a marked shift in pronouns in “Wade in the Water.” The poem begins by identifying a “me” (the speaker—Line 1) and a “she” (the Gullah Geechee performer—Line 2) as well as the other “strangers” (Line 9). But by the end of the poem, the poem shifts to include everyone into an “us” (Line 23) and “we” (Line 29). The strangers have come together despite the terrible forces of the past that were unleashed to divide and enslave. The “girl” running from the slave hunters is no longer alone in her pursuit of freedom (Line 32). A community has found her and supports her, 150 years later.

The past is not buried like a time capsule. It is living today in art, in relationships, in communities. Cultures like the Gullah Geechee represent a powerful way for people to come together to become stronger despite a tortured relationship with the past. While African Americans have endured a legacy of enslavement, Jim Crow laws, police brutality, white supremacy, historical erasures, housing discrimination, poverty, health disparities, discrimination in the workplace, attacks on voting rights, over-representation in the criminal justice system, and under-representation in the halls of power—to name some of the racial injustices in the United States—community has been one of the most significant ways to combat these national scourges. Smith wants to use poetry to change mindsets and stereotypes for all readers. She hopes that the quiet, generous, rigorous love that can be found in a poem like “Wade in the Water” will allow for a new path forward. While her poem moves back and forth in time, as it confronts the past and present, it is the use of the “we” that allows us to navigate the troubled waters of our country together.