When Giving is All We Have

Growing up, prolific poet and novelist Alberto Rios (1952–) understood the dilemma of boundary lines and the traumatic impact of division. Raised along the Arizona-Mexico border as the son of first-generation Mexican immigrants, Rios learned to value the power of coming together. That hope is reflected in Rios’s much-anthologized poem “When Giving Is All We Have” (2014), which celebrates the joyous energy of selflessness. 

When Rios published the poem, he was already established as one of the most respected voices in transborder literature, a genre investigating the experiences of Mexican American immigrants who face the psychological and emotional challenges of defining an identity while suspended between family heritage and their adopted culture. 

This poem argues that charity, which defies the logic of self-preservation, is humanity’s highest virtue: The more we give, the more we gain. In its focus on human interdependence, the poem conveys the idea that only by working together can we make a difference. Drawing on the traditions of sacred literature, Rios encourages readers to act, to make the world more humane and more compassionate. 

POET BIOGRAPHY

Alberto Rios was born on September 18, 1952, in Nogales, near Tucson, along Arizona’s border with Mexico. He is the son of successful first-generation Mexican immigrants: His father was a justice of the peace, his mother a nurse. Rios grew up speaking only Spanish. His subsequent education in the city’s English-language public schools gave him a conflicted perception of cultural identity.

A voracious reader, Rios thrived in school. Rios filled notebooks with his poetry, but because he was uncertain whether poetry writing was a fit pursuit for a boy, he kept his passion (and his talent) a secret until he enrolled at the University of Arizona, where he earned an undergraduate degree and an MFA in Creative Writing in 1979.

Rios accepted a teaching position in Creative Writing at Arizona State University in 1982. His first collection, Whispering to Fool the Wind (1982), won the Walt Whitman Award, presented annually by the American Academy of Poets to an outstanding first book of poetry. Over the next two decades, Rios published more than a dozen critically acclaimed poetry collections—most notably The Smallest Muscle in the Human Body (2002), which was shortlisted for the National Book Award. In the late 1990s, Rios began writing novels, short stories, and essays further examining the challenges of transborder life.

Rios now holds the prestigious Turner Endowed Chair in English at Arizona State. In addition to his writing and teaching, Rios has been a tireless champion of the importance of cultural diversity and tolerance. In 2013, Rios was named Arizona’s inaugural Poet Laureate. He used that platform to advocate for the importance of the arts and to encourage young people to embrace reading in an era progressively marginalizing literature.  

POEM TEXT

Rios, Alberto. “When Giving Is All We Have.” 2014. Get Lit. 

SUMMARY

A two-line italicized epigraph describes how one river, seemingly singular and apart, flows into others, passing its energy and power on to create a mighty network of waterways. 

The opening stanza observes that giving is a deeply human act that does not really have an explanation: Sometimes we give to others because we are grateful for the fact that someone has given to us. However, sometimes “We give” (Line 2) despite the fact that we have not been the beneficiaries of others’ generosity. 

Stanza 2 points out the cyclical and habit-forming nature of giving. Giving changes givers, inspiring us to give again. Even the potential for this kind for transformation is enough to impel giving: “We give because giving could have changed us” (Line 4) and we are still hopeful that the possibility remains. 

Stanza 3 points out that giving does not necessarily always result in a positive emotions. Sometimes, giving produces a welcome response that makes us feel “better” (Line 5); other times, giving lives up to the proverb that no good deed goes unpunished, and we are “wounded” by our actions (Line 6) despite our best intentions. Charity often makes the world better, but it can also breed resentment and emphasize disparities. 

Stanza 4 categorizes the many “faces” (Line 7) of giving. Generosity comprises actions that advertise themselves and ones that remain anonymous (“loud and quiet” [Line 7]). Some seemingly insignificant moments of kindness are actually equivalent to grand gestures (“Big, though small” [Line 8]). These gestures are radiant and unexpectedly valuable, like finding “diamonds” in a pile of “wood-nails” (Line 8). 

Stanza 5 admits that stories that celebrate sharing are hardly new, but we reread them even though the “pages” are “old” and “worn” (Line 9). We find ourselves returning to those stories “over and again” (Line 10), either for inspiration, or for confirmation of our own choices. 

Stanza 6 defines meaningful generosity as intimate, physical, and personal: “hand to hand” (Line 11). Defining the “we” that has already broken the frame of the poem, the speaker reaches out a hand to the reader: “Mine to yours, yours to mine” (Line 12). 

Stanza 7 uses the metaphor of colors blending to depict the synergistic power of community. While individuals might have blue and yellow, by combining these colors together, we can produce “simple green” (Line 14)—cooperation yields something new and needful.

The eighth stanza builds giving into an almost magical, metaphysical event. Giving is so essential that it transcends the possession of actual resources: “You gave me / What you did not have” (Lines 14-15) implies that just the desire to fulfill another’s need is enough to have that need feel like it has been met. The intentionality then leads to actual charity: What you do not have, I provide. 

The closing line that makes up the last stanza affirms the difference that giving makes possible. Only together can individuals produce “something greater” (Line 17) than what they can individually accomplish. The ending thus echoes the epigraph’s image of rivers uniting into larger bodies of water.