Resilience and Perseverance in Kate Baer’s And Yet
Thematic Claim: Perseverance as an Act of Defiance in the Ordinary
In And Yet, Kate Baer presents resilience not as a triumphant overcoming of hardship but as a stubborn, often messy refusal to stop showing up. The collection’s central claim is that perseverance is found in small, unglamorous acts—picking up trash, calling a difficult relative, admitting “I’m still here” at a COVID testing clinic. The repeated conjunction “and yet” becomes a mantra of continuation: hope and disgust coexist, but the speaker keeps moving forward. This analysis traces the theme across several pivotal poems, links key symbols and characters, and confronts the complexity of a resilience that includes anger, depression, and self-doubt.
Resilience Embodied in Key Poems
1. “Fatal Flaw” (Chapter 101) – The Rhythm of And Yet
The collection’s climactic expression of perseverance appears in “Fatal Flaw.” The speaker throws a “surprise party for my rage” attended by first responders—a darkly comic image that acknowledges her own volatility. She calls herself an “insult to this world” and confesses to writing the fused word “inslut” while drunk, capturing her simultaneous self-loathing and defiance. The emotional seesaw is likened to “a dog following her tail,” and the poem ends with a triple repetition:
“and yet / and yet / and yet.” This repetition is the heartbeat of the theme: despite knowing her own instability, despite the cycle of hope and disgust, the speaker refuses to stop. The “fatal flaw” is not the volatility itself but the inability to give up—a flaw that becomes a form of endurance.
2. “And Yet” (Chapter 35) – The Ordinary Hero
The title poem directly articulates the shift from waiting for rescue to self-reliance. The speaker stops hoping for “One American Hero” and instead takes on mundane tasks: picking trash from a neighbor’s yard, hauling jars to the recycle bin, calling her great-aunt Susan even though the relationship is fraught. The line “this is not just your godforsaken earth” elevates the ordinary to the sacred. The poem acknowledges an internal war: “Worse to know the war will always be in you.” Resilience here is not about winning but about continuing to perform small duties despite inner conflict. The image of a “little cauldron” and “tender loon” suggests a fragile yet fierce heart where “hope and fear are mingling.” Perseverance becomes a daily, unheroic labor.
3. “For My Sister” (Chapter 52) – Running Wildly into the Unknown
This poem directly addresses how to continue when hope has been “sucked out of the room.” The speaker recalls a childhood memory of running down a hill “not knowing if our legs could carry us.” The instruction is to continue “wildly, wildly, / unafraid of what will surely come.” The resilience here is a physical, almost reckless momentum—an insistence on motion even when the outcome is uncertain. The “good news” of a door and the “bad news” that it is difficult to open reinforces that perseverance is not smooth; it requires struggle.
4. “At the Covid Testing Clinic” (Chapter 40) – The Simple Affirmation of Being Alive
In the midst of a pandemic, the speaker imagines her own death—husband weeping, children “orphaned into little tremors of grief.” A woman nearby says “Mask it or casket,” a stark reminder of risk. When her name is called, the speaker says: “Yes I’m here, I say. / I’m still here.” This minimal declaration is a powerful act of perseverance. It does not deny fear or grief but asserts presence. The line “I’m still here” becomes a mantra of survival, echoing the title’s insistence on continuing despite struggle.
Character and Symbol Connections
The Speaker-Poet Persona
The speaker-poet persona is the central figure of resilience. She is a mother, wife, and daughter who navigates depression, rage, and exhaustion. In “Sad Olympics” (Chapter 90), she describes buying “a new air fryer, a pink diffuser, a junior spider plant” to cope with depression, yet sorrow “bangs on the piano.” Her resilience is not stoic; it involves self-mockery and small comforts. In “Influencers” (Chapter 15), she witnesses a mother bending to give a raging child “quiet kindness” and chooses joy despite “miserable devastation.” The speaker embodies the theme by showing up for her family and her own life.
The Husband and Children
The husband is a grounding presence—often the one the speaker turns to in moments of crisis, such as texting him “Mother of four” at the testing clinic. The son and daughter are sources of both strain and wonder. In “Marvel” (Chapter 100), the speaker watches her daughter and recalls the birth when the baby looked alien; now the child is “the most beautiful she has ever met.” This transformation from strangeness to love is a kind of perseverance—the willingness to stay with difficulty until beauty emerges. The children also appear as the “backs” on which she writes poems (“Revival,” Chapter 50), symbolizing that domestic life itself becomes the medium for creative endurance.
The Friend and Mother Archetype
In “True Grit” (Chapter 4), a friend tries to avoid mentioning her difficult family at a reunion, and the speaker observes: “It is possible to leave out almost everything in any given story.” This selective silence is a form of resilience—choosing what to share to protect oneself and others. The mother archetype appears implicitly in the call to “great-aunt Susan,” suggesting that family ties, even strained, are maintained as an act of perseverance.
Symbols of Perseverance
- Glitter Heels and Train: In “My Ambition Goes Off to War” (Chapter 2), ambition packs glitter heels and boards a train. The impractical shoes symbolize a clash between desire and reality; the train’s departure represents the separation from a driven part of the self. Perseverance here means living with that loss.
- Baby Clothes (implied in “Marvel” and many domestic poems): Small items of childhood evoke the tenderness that fuels endurance.
- Butterfly: In “Butterfly Effect” (Chapter 84), the speaker wonders if a smile or held door can change someone’s direction. The butterfly’s wing flap becomes a metaphor for small acts of kindness as acts of perseverance—even when the outcome is unknown.
- The Comma: In “Written Affair” (Chapter 30), the speaker describes being “held by the endurance of a comma.” The comma as punctuation signifies continuation, a pause that does not end the sentence. This is a perfect symbol for the collection’s resilience: life’s sentence is not over; it keeps going.
Complexity and Contradiction
Resilience in And Yet is never simple. The speaker admits in “The Truth Is” (Chapter 85) that she doesn’t know what she’s learned, and her “gut is an ugly liar.” Perseverance coexists with self-doubt and regret. In “Fatal Flaw,” rage is celebrated with irony; in “Sad Olympics,” depression is managed with consumer goods yet persists. The title itself, And Yet, embodies contradiction—it connects two opposing states without resolving them. The speaker is both hopeful and despairing, both a mother and a person who sometimes fails. This complexity makes the theme relatable: perseverance is not a fixed trait but a daily, often flawed choice to keep going.
Study Questions and Answers
1. How does the poem “And Yet” (Chapter 35) redefine heroism?
The poem rejects the idea of a savior (“One American Hero”) and instead values small, unglamorous acts like picking up trash, recycling, and maintaining difficult family relationships. Heroism becomes ordinary, daily labor performed without recognition.
2. In “Fatal Flaw,” what does the repetition of “and yet” accomplish?
The triple repetition mimics a stubborn rhythm of continuation despite emotional seesawing. It transforms the phrase from a conjunction into a mantra of endurance, suggesting that the speaker’s flaw—her inability to stop—is also her source of strength.
3. Why does the speaker in “For My Sister” advise continuing “wildly, wildly”?
The adverb “wildly” implies a lack of control or certainty. Perseverance here is not calm or measured; it is reckless and childlike, involving an almost blind trust in one’s own momentum. This contrasts with polished, performative resilience.
4. How does the symbol of the butterfly in “Butterfly Effect” relate to perseverance?
The butterfly’s wing flap represents tiny, unpredictable actions that may have large consequences. The speaker’s act of holding a door for a rude man is a small gesture of perseverance—choosing kindness without knowing if it will change anything. The question “do we sit in front of a big projector where everything is explained?” underscores that perseverance often operates without clear justification.
5. What does the line “I’m still here” in “At the Covid Testing Clinic” reveal about resilience in the collection?
The minimal assertion of presence—without boast or explanation—captures the book’s core definition of resilience: simply continuing to exist and identify oneself as present, even in the face of fear, grief, and pandemic uncertainty. It is a quiet, defiant “and yet.”