Dirt

“Dirt” is set in an agricultural culture, spoken by a “we” who knows how to work the land. The connotation of “dirt” is twofold. It can refer to something of little value, as in “dirt-poor” or “lower than the dirt,” insinuating that a person has very little. In the context of this poem, the speaker makes obvious the essential value of dirt. The first line, “We who gave, owned nothing, / learned the value of dirt” (Lines 1-2), suggests that the speakers may also have overlooked the value of dirt. As they “learned” it is the basis of agriculture and thus the basis of life. Those who own dirt can own everything that dirt provides—food, a place to build a home, products to sell for money. Those who are denied the dirt are denied “a currency of personhood” (Line 9), meaning the ability to act as a human being with independent value.

The poem turns the connotation of dirt from one of little value to one of remarkable value. The speaker also makes obvious the depths of degradation a person experiences when they are denied even the dirt. Without the ability to own a piece of land, a person has “nothing” while still being expected to give everything.