more slaves than ever before
mostly in my global region
we all have seen it
aussies on our cheap holiday trips
turning a blind eye
shopping for our bargains
sipping our cocktails by the pool
when a stranger begs you
to take his young daughters with you
for a better life
when a young woman asks you to take her sick child
to the hospital because she knows a bule ( white person)
will be taken seriously
when a girl who is being sexually molested at work
asks you for help to escape
when you see filthy old western men
go into the cubicles with 15 year old girls
supposedly to have a massage
so on and so forth
you feel uncomfortable
you know that something is seriously wrong
with countries you visit where
this is going on
you empty your wallet
and help out as much as you can
but it is a bandaid cure
and when you finally become so blase
about stepping over beggars on the footpath
when the 50 year old low caste
taxi driver's eyes well up with tears
because you stop for an ice cream
and buy him one too
(he has never had one before)
you think FAARK!!!
i cannot go on
i cannot look at this anymore
i can pray
i can pay
but that is not enough
i have to try to do something else
something anything
Midweek Motif - PU
I feel "a bandaid cure." My poem asks that we get closer to what we don't want to see, and here you are bringing closer both the signs of slavery and our inadequate response. Wow! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteAnother sad poem a comment on the world we live in.
ReplyDeleteThe contrast between the two worlds, and the helplessness of what to do. Where I have just tried to imagine the emotions of the victim (I found it difficult to do even that), you are asking the right questions. And I know that praying is not enough, that is what I am doing while reading all these poems.
ReplyDeleteA sense of sadness and futility pervades this poem, and yet there must be SOMETHING we can do. SOMETHING! (This is a gritty write, but written so well. Thank you.)
ReplyDeleteYour indignation rings out. This is making the news. Working together, we can end this travesty.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great poetic response to the prompt. Sadly our world is driven by investors and magnates keen on wealth creation and the poor are of no interest because their need does not turn a profit. We however do have money to spend so every effort is taken to relieve us of it. We have got to find a way to bring the starving, abused, violated, poor people of the world into a sustainable living environment. The question is how?
ReplyDeleteExcellent poem I feel your despair about the people who suffer. It feels like a sort of helplessness how we have to watch. At least you bring awareness as most people don't even realise what's going on.
ReplyDeleteThe driver analogy really hit home with me. We have to do something but what? Maybe speak when we know something is happening. That's a start I guess.
ReplyDelete