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Open Poetry #34
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ice
Member Elite
since 2003-05-17
Posts 3404
Pennsylvania

0 posted 2004-12-05 08:54 PM


­*"The old woman across the way
is whipping the boy again
and shouting to the neighborhood
her goodness and his wrongs."
.............................................

The lash instills the righteousness
That God Proclaims (she thinks)
Digests the devils fat...
That's been swallowed by the naïf.

But welts of corporal punishment:
Red brands, in letters raised,
Make graven image of the cane
Like said, made Moses crash,
The sacred, Torah plates;
The whip is a golden calf.

A stinging thrash on human flesh
Frowns a God of mercy's face...
And no glue can make the tablets whole,
For beatings grind them, fine as sand;
Their message blurs, then disappears
When skin impacts with plaits.
..............................................

*"And the woman leans muttering against
     a tree, exhausted, purged--
avenged in part for lifelong hidings
     she has had to bear."

(*exerts from- "The Whipping" by Robert Hayden..1971)

­­
­

© Copyright 2004 ford hume - All Rights Reserved
GG
Member Elite
since 2002-12-03
Posts 3532
Lost in thought
1 posted 2004-12-05 08:59 PM


I recognised that first excerpt the second I read it. A good poem. And you added to it justice poetically. Sad realities... make me cringe.
Good write.

Always, Alyssa

He was a man of sorrows
...I am a girl of tears.

serenity blaze
Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738

2 posted 2004-12-05 09:06 PM


"Make graven image of the cane"

that says it all

I like the layered word-play ice, very much.

(And funny, I was just thinking of the word "imprinting", and graphically it depicts the biology of physical legacy of emotional scarring)

A thoughtful, intriguing write.

thank you

Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
3 posted 2004-12-05 09:06 PM


Thank you...and thanks is not enough...

for the sins of a parent
will always bear even more
greatly on a child...

oh, I remember...

several things...
and this brought even more
into circumspect....

with highlights.

thank you, Ford...

thank you for all you have given all of us.

Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049
California
4 posted 2004-12-05 09:15 PM


Ford

This is something that more people should talk about....as a teacher for many years, I tried to tell parents that believed they had to, that no, they didn't have to.  Thank you for writing this and posting it.  

Midnitesun
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Empyrean
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia
5 posted 2004-12-06 12:45 PM


"And no glue can make the tablets whole,
For beatings grind them, fine as sand;"

*sigh* if only they understood, the heart and mind bruise more deeply than the body

and are as hard to mend as Humpty

I didn't want to read this after reading the title,
but of course, I am not sorry that I did

Huan Yi
Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688
Waukegan
6 posted 2004-12-06 12:54 PM


It’s tougher on girls for a mother to be so
even in words.

/pip/Forum1/HTML/000972.html  

Voiceless
Senior Member
since 2001-02-19
Posts 686
Under the stars upon the wind
7 posted 2004-12-06 01:22 AM


Mental cringing..
Only because of the vividness
ane high quality of the poem.
Great write..

~Jen

Freedom is not Free (Korean War memorial)

Mysteria
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Member Laureate
since 2001-03-07
Posts 18328
British Columbia, Canada
8 posted 2004-12-06 01:14 PM


Good to see this - more parents should read it, but they won't unfortunately.  Happy Holidays Ford.

Enchantress
Member Empyrean
since 2001-08-14
Posts 35113
Canada eh.
9 posted 2004-12-06 01:34 PM


So sad Ford....so damn sad.
Cloud 9
Senior Member
since 2004-11-05
Posts 980
Ca
10 posted 2004-12-06 01:37 PM


OOOOHHH the memories!! You wrote it just as how I felt at that point when my sisters and I were much younger.
froggy
Senior Member
since 2003-06-23
Posts 1893
Michigan
11 posted 2004-12-06 03:23 PM


Hi Ford,
   This is still an ouch poem as I said
last night in chat.

:-)


Within this heart you'll find love

stevebrklynnyc
Member
since 2004-01-04
Posts 292
GA, Camden
12 posted 2004-12-06 05:52 PM


Dear sir, this write made me remember all to well, days long since past.  I have found sucess for my children without the need for a cane.  I wish I could write like you, maybe in a couple of hundred years.  Outstanding!!!  Thanks.
ice
Member Elite
since 2003-05-17
Posts 3404
Pennsylvania
13 posted 2004-12-06 09:08 PM


Friends...
Your replies are greater than the poem...

No matter what people tell me about the benifits of striking a child, I cannot condone it...

To me it is child abuse. As well, I consider striking other adults with fists or bullets, abuse.

With hands across my heart I whisper Namaste to all of you...

___________ice/ford
  ><>

Come read to me some poem,
Some simple and heartfelt lay,
That shall soothe this restless feeling
And banish the thoughts of day.
Longfellow

MGROVES
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Elite
since 2004-02-01
Posts 3802
california
14 posted 2006-08-22 12:59 PM


i know of these scars- powerful write
m'friend-

My spirit will rise
above the sea~
There will be no drowning
of my soul or me~

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