I enjoyed Brian's blog about the reader's emotional response to poetry... 'good' poetry makes the reader feel something. I am sharing a poem that literally gutted me and never left me. The poem is written with purposeful dispassion. The emotion is not told, not even shown... the emotion is woven into what the poet has wisely left OUT of his poem.
We rarely talk about this as writers. What we leave UNSPOKEN has just as much weight/significance in our writing as what we include in our poems.
Sometimes, by approaching a topic in an almost emotionless state, keeping the details objective- COLD-- we actually highlight the desperation or horror of a situation. The reader fills it all in, connects the dots, takes the words and adds the emotion. THEY take the poem and add themselves into the equation.
What do YOU think?
(the following poem was published by CV2 and is shared here for educational/study purposes only and this blog will be deleted in the next two weeks.)
the camp at musina
by Peter Midgley
she sat for two days, waiting
for officials to acknowledge her.
reporters found her first,
told her story to the world.
watch her wait in squalid conditions
at the gates of the makeshift refugee camp,
hungry baby in her arms. she walked, you know,
for two days before she came to the limpopo
swathed in crocodile-infested darkness.
she waded in, baby on her shoulders,
boy by her side.
she felt the ford deepen,
sent him back (he could not swim).
she forded on with the baby. he was four
and would fend for himself.
Published online March 05 2014.
Peter Midgley is a poet and storyteller based in Edmonton. He has performed in several countries around the world and has published three children’s books, one of which, Thuli’s Mattress, won the International Board on Books for Young People Award for Literacy Promotion and has been translated into 27 languages. He is also the author of two plays and a collection of poetry. Peter writes in English and Afrikaans. His bilingual volume of poems, perhaps i should / miskien moet ek, appeared with Kalamalka Press in 2010. His creative nonfiction book, Counting Teeth: A Namibian Story, is due out in 2014 (Wolsak & Wynn). A second collection of poetry, Unquiet Bones, will be published by Wolsak & Wynn in 2015.