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Open Poetry #37
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Country Poor
| Open Poetry #37 |
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Country Poor |
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ice Member Elite
since 2003-05-17
Posts 3404Pennsylvania |
Because they don't pour Overflowing into streets, Get arrested selling crack-or Pimp themselves for bling; Rural poor, are inoften seen, Because they make no news Except, perhaps as names, Found in obituaries: They stay hidden from other eyes, In broken down houses-baking In unvented ovens, come August- Invisible in wood or metal prisons, Until death demands eviction... * The fault is deep, she cannot climb: To blame, is poverties bottomless pit (Always narrow, with steep sides) Whose cliffs are far too slippery, For shoes with worn soles, to climb; And so she bodes this muddy hollow At the end of mud-lane...trapped, Like a collier, when a mine subsides. Her front yard is a graveyard of parts: Where a torn southern cross, still waves On the rear-glass of her dead-sons truck, Still up on blocks, just how he braced it In sixty eight, when he left for Viet Nam; The same year he came home in a box. The snapping shreds of a prayer flag, Once bright with stars and stripes, Fly tattered, above the mess that is her life... But...she salutes each time she emerges, To feed her mongrel, table scraps... the cur That makes residence in the rusted F-150-(65) Its bed still littered, with empty Bud cans. Thin plastic on her port holes-bellow In the winter-winds where Allegheny Meets Appalachia-respiration shows- As a weak pulse in cellophane lungs, Wheezing in, and out, as the coal fire Loses heat, with every breath they take. The elastic windows are clear enough To show the gray stripes of cheap fix- (ducttape) pasted to dull sharp points, And cracks, of broken window-glass. * A Saint Francis, she is, Holding out grits in her palm To birds in her yard ...as I pass, I wave But she barely lifts her head She is Eighty now, but no one calls to visit, To hunker down and glean the weeds Of lonely from her life..her living kids, Not far away, demonstrate their pain By laying on her.... blame by silence. Wasting lifes time alongside Other country poor, invisible From others eyes, Up muddy roads that wind Up other muddy-hollows. |
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| © Copyright 2006 ford hume - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Seymour Tabin Member Empyrean
since 1999-07-07
Posts 31720Tamarac Fla |
ice A very warm piece for ice. Enjoyed the read |
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Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049California |
Ford Your description has painted a most poignant picture of this woman and her life, better then any photo could. I feel her life because of your words. This should be in your local paper!!  |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
Actually, it should be placed in papers across the Nation... you just stepped us all back some 40 years or more... to today, and the things that haven't changed. Hugging you for this heart-stopper... and keeping it, too. " It matters not this distance now " Excerpt, Yesterday's Love |
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The Lady Member Rara Avis
since 2005-12-26
Posts 7634The Southwest |
Incredible portrait. I enjoyed it immensely. |
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Gentle Spirit Member Patricius
since 2000-10-09
Posts 13989 |
I have know such a woman as this Ford, although residing no where near Allegheny. Poignant potrait you so caringly display here. Thank you for this... |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
quote: I love your perspective, tweetie. |
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Bridget Shenachie Senior Member
since 2002-01-23
Posts 1056Kansas USA |
I still think that Country Poor is preferable to City Poor. Whichever. It's hard to romanticize poverty. "Better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick." Don't know who said that first. Why can't we find a way to feed World Hunger? Did you get me thinking, or what?!? You can see that my heart is bleeding. Nice Write! Shenachie |
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ice Member Elite
since 2003-05-17
Posts 3404Pennsylvania |
See More...Martie...Karilea...Kate Donna...Kacy...Story Teller (good to see you again) Thank you for reading and the encouraging replies... Sometimes I seem to get in a rut, and write several poems in a row that might seem gloomy, so I don't post them in a line...This one was written a while ago. I calls 'em as I sees 'em... Big hugs to all.....  _______ ___ice/ford ><> |
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littlewing Member Rara Avis
since 2003-03-02
Posts 9655New York |
ice? Striking lines, placed perfectly, made me see her: A Saint Francis, she is, Holding out grits in her palm To birds in her yard and this is why I have to take a serious road trip. These are the people whose hands are stained with mud and blood and grit and sand. |
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froggy Senior Member
since 2003-06-23
Posts 1893Michigan |
I agree with all those before me on thie beautiful read. Well done my friend. :-) Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, |
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OwlSA Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347Durban, South Africa |
I really feel for her, so well did you paint her. - Owl |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
We drive by these places so quickly, ice. Thank you, for giving us the slow tour of what is only a mere glance through a car window, or a quick mention on the evening news, and only then if there happens to be a story in such a community. It shouldn't be happening and yet it is. *hard hugs* for seeing with compassion too. (I just backspaced a soapbox commentary regarding judgementalists who equate poverty with laziness.) You are a lovely man, and alas, it seems all the lovely men are "taken".  |
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nakdthoughts Member Laureate
since 2000-10-29
Posts 19200Between the Lines |
Eighty now, but no one calls to visit, To hunker down and glean the weeds Of lonely from her life..her living kids, Not far away, demonstrate their pain By laying on her.... blame by silence happens much too often~~ M |
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iliana Member Patricius
since 2003-12-05
Posts 13434USA |
Having been a farm-grown girl myself, I know this "woman." This poem, however, is much deeper than just a portrait of a woman. It is a portrait of what war can do to humanity, and a brilliant social commentary. ...jo |
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latearrival Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499Florida |
Being old and neglected whether poor or middle class or even rich is a bitter pill to take. You painted a picture of all the old men and women I know who have one sort of sorrow or another. Especially those whose "kin" forget him or her. thanks for this one. martyjo |
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Klassy Lassy Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187Oregon |
I think of those others I once knew who lived dirt poor! Thank God they weren't forgotten in their last years, though, and were very rich in spirit. Some cultures revere their old citizens. I wish we did more. They are treasures, and forgetting them seemingly reduces those treasures to ignominious trivialities. How much we miss, and how much they despair and suffer unnecessarily! The pictures in your wordpaint make a vivid impact on me. Very well done! Thank you. ~ Karen |
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