I'm horrible at understanding poetry. I get lost in what the rhythm is supposed to be and lose what the words are trying to say. But I still try. So with this in mind, I offer the first in a series of (not written my me) social work poems:
Another social work poemby Lone Star Ma
I grow daily more tired from trying
To make rich men care about poor children
Their world view such a study in the unreality that is men’s lives
They truly believe that all these children would be well
If their lazy mothers just worked harder
if they left them all alone at night to work another shift?
if they never had the time to see the insides of their schools?
that would be better?
It seems that way to the rich, white men
Because they leave life’s details and their family’s alone
Never knowing what mothers do and don’t do to keep their children well
They leave and they fault mothers for being there still
If money is not
The battles to make them see and care are wearing me
Burning me
Out.
I agree very much that there is a lot to be learnt from poetry. I actually did a presentation using a couple of poems that unfortunately I can't reproduce for copyright reasons (The Interrogator and Night Sister by Elizabeth Jennings - quite hard to find copies online though). I think there is a way that poetry can be much better at describing emotions and emotive reactions than prose. It has a far more fluid tone that leads itself more wholly to the internal thought processes without having to worry about the constraints of grammar or accepted written form.
ReplyDeleteI, too, have trouble with poetry. Always have.
ReplyDeleteI love the social work poem, even though I also have historically had a rocky relationship with poetry. I think poetry is better when it's gritty though--enter: social workers. Thanks for sharing.
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