Dusting

Marilyn Nelson’s lyric poem “Dusting,” was first published in 1994 in her collection Magnificat, and later collected into Fields of Praise: New and Selected Poems (1997). It has become one of Nelson’s most widely recognized and anthologized poems. Nelson works in various forms, from closed forms like the sonnet to open form poems. Part of the latter category, “Dusting” can be described as a contemporary free-verse poem which does not rhyme, and lacks a specified meter. It is a meditation on the mundane act of dusting, in which the speaker uses scientific metaphors to give the “infernal, endless chore” (Line 19) greater meaning. This provides a conduit for the speaker’s gratitude to a higher force, or God. Nelson, a translator, children’s book author, and award-winning poet, is known to be equally agile with narrative and lyric poetry. Overall, her poetry has been praised for its wide-ranging subject matter, its careful historical research, and quiet but strong style. She concentrates on the subjects of African-American history, feminism, and domesticity, as well as the connections humans have with a greater power. She is known for her deft metaphors, sure language, and straightforward tone. As Mark Doty says on Nelson’s website, her “bold and sure poems long for heaven and—happily for us—continue a lifelong affair with the occasions of earth.” (See: Further Reading & Resources).

Poet Biography

Marilyn Nelson was born on April 26, 1946, to Tuskegee airman Melvin Nelson and teacher Johnnie Mitchell Nelson. The family was stationed in Cleveland, Ohio but soon moved. Nelson grew up on a series of military bases and began writing in grade school. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of California-Davis in 1968 and went on to receive an M.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970.

1970 also marked the year she married Erdmann F. Waniek. Most of her early work was published under the name Marilyn Nelson Waniek, including her first collection of poetry For the Body (1978). In 1979, Nelson received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and began working as a professor at the University of Connecticut at Storrs. She divorced Waniek in 1979 and shortly thereafter married Roger R. Wilkenfeld. The couple had two children, Jacob and Dora.

In 1981, Nelson received her first fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and published Mama’s Promises (1985). In 1990, she received a second NEA fellowship, and published her collection, The Homeplace (1990). This collection was lauded for Nelson’s ability to trace her family’s history back to her ancestor’s slavery. It was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her collection Magnificat (1994) followed, which was inspired by her friendship with a Benedictine monk and her own spiritual awakening. In 1997, Nelson published her new and selected poems as The Fields of Praise (1997). This collection was nominated for the National Book Award and won the Poets’ Prize in 1999.

In 1998, Nelson divorced Wilkenfeld. In 2001, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship and became poet laureate of Connecticut, a position she held until 2006. In 2002, Nelson founded the Soul Mountain Retreat, a retreat for poets. During the early 2000s, Nelson received high praise for her children’s books about George Washington Carver and Emmett Till, important African American figures. Carver, a Life in Poems (2001) and A Wreath for Emmett Till (2005) were popular with readers and critics alike.

Throughout her career, she has been a professor in Oregon, Ohio, Minnesota, Delaware, and the countries of Denmark and Germany. The majority of her teaching duties have been at the University of Connecticut-Storrs, where she is now professor emerita. Besides her many books of adult poetry, Nelson has also written several chapbooks of poetry, as well as books for children and young adults. An accomplished translator, she has translated poetry from both Danish and German. Her own poetry is marked by her lyrical imagery and engagement with domestic and social subjects. Nelson has received several prominent awards, including the Frost Medal (2012), a chancellorship of the Academy of American Poets (2013), the NCTE Award for excellence in Poetry for Children (2017), the NSK and Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature (2017) and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize (2019).

Poem Text

Nelson, Marilyn. “Dusting.” 1994. The Academy of American Poets.

Summary

“Dusting” is a lyric poem of twenty-one lines, divided into three stanzas. Each stanza deals with the speaker’s gratitude during dusting, a repetitive task they find “infernal” (Line 19). At the beginning and at the end, the speaker offers praise to an entity outside of themselves, who created the world, and everything in it, including the “dust” (Lines 18, 21) the speaker is brushing away. The first stanza notes that the motes of “dust” (Lines 18, 21) come in a variety of forms and sizes. Many of these “particles” (Line 2) cannot be seen or perceived by the eye, nor under a microscope. The speaker imagines them with a sense of wonder.

The second stanza details the symbiotic relationships of many of the “spores” (Lines 9, 10) that make up “dust” (Lines 18, 21). The speaker lauds their unseen “cooperation” (Line 12) that covers the entirety of the earth. This collaboration is given further weight in the third stanza in which the task of dusting by the speaker is revisited. Here, the speaker notes how the “dust” (Lines 18, 21) appears in a sunbeam of “light” (Line 18), seeming to rise upward. The speaker then again gives thanks for the task they complete. They note that, in a symbiotic relationship similar to the “spores” (Lines 9, 10), “dust” (Lines 18, 21) provides “rain” (Line 20) that helps to create precipitation, which nourishes the earth. The speaker, in turn, moves the dust, sending it skyward. The poem concludes with the speaker expressing thanks for the chore of dusting and for dust.