Hello, this is Susie Clevenger and I want to wish each of
you a Happy New Year! I am hoping this will be a wonderful and blessed year for
each one of us.
When Kerry sent out the call to see if we would be
interested in starting the new year with collaborative poems I gave a hearty
thumbs up! Little did I know that I would be working with Kerry and ours would
be the first out of the gate. Kerry knew
there was a subject that was dear to my heart and she made the suggestion that
we write a poem about it.
Hands of Hope ~ You Are Not Alone
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Image ~ Duddeston Station ~ Elliot Brown
You wicked child!
And little hands beaten,
Supper denied,
Locked in a cupboard all afternoon.
Naughty boy!
Who speaks for the children’s
inarticulate pain
when parents are to blame?
Precious boy,
I will
hold you in your pain.
You are
not to blame
for the
evil stripes brutal hands
placed
upon your body.
I raised the cry to see the
cupboard unhinged.
You will
never be locked
in
darkness again.
You filthy tramp!
And a fist to the other eye,
Hair pulled,
Kicked to the floor while babies cry.
Dirty slut!
Who hears the women’s pleas
battered again
when husbands are to blame?
Sister, rise from your bruising.
We have
heard your voice!
Compassion
is now your sanctuary.
Words
and fists can no longer batter you.
Their
rage has been assigned
a number and metal bars.
You stupid old goat!
And a rough hand at the throat,
Shoulders shaken,
Left naked all night in a stripped-down bed.
Stinky old fool!
Who protects the aged fathers
from unspeakable shame
when children are to blame?
Sir, can you hear me?
This is your home now.
This is your home now.
You are safe from hands
that stole your dignity.
You are a veteran decorated
with stars and stripes.
There will be no more wounds
of domestic battle only honor
for a soldier who fought a war for me.
From reading the poem it is easy to discern the topic is
abuse. It is a subject I am very familiar with and am passionate about doing
what I can to stop and prevent it. Kerry wrote her part as the aggressor and I
chose to write my part as the person who gave a helping hand to bring someone
out of abuse. She wondered if it was too tough a topic to begin a new year
discussing, but I believe it is a perfect time to focus on change. Each one of us can do our part to see these
atrocities ended.
I have included some resources that offer assistance to those who have suffered abuse.
As poets this is a way we could give our poetic voice to a cause that focuses on violence against women.
Woman Scream Poetry Festival
March 2013
March 2013
what an amazing collaborative poem ladies, really really well done. I agree, it's the start of a new year, so let's use our poetry for good. happy New year.
ReplyDeleteI thought I'd add in some great support organisations here in the UK so they're here if anyone looks.
ReplyDeleteNSPCC - http://www.nspcc.org.uk/
Childline - http://www.childline.org.uk/Pages/Home.aspx
women's aid - http://www.womensaid.org.uk/
Refuge - http://refuge.org.uk/
National domestic violence helpline - http://www.nationaldomesticviolencehelpline.org.uk/
Respect - http://www.respect.uk.net/
Elder abuse - http://www.elderabuse.org.uk/
Age UK - http://www.ageuk.org.uk/e great support organisations here in the UK so they're here if anyone looks.
nspcc -
women's aid -
This is a perfect way to start the new year. It is amazing how seamlessly the two parts fit together. You'd never know two people wrote this if you hadn't told us. Well done.
ReplyDelete*stands up and claps*
ReplyDeleteThis is stellar. I couldn't honestly tell who wrote which until I read the note at the end. This is powerful and timely and a perfect poem to start out with, I think. Sometimes think "the least of these" and how they are treated, is what matters most urgently and reveals the most. Very very well done, ladies.
An excellent collaboration on a topic that needs all the light and exposure it can get. Thanks, ladies, for caring, and for all the helpful links as well. Happy New Year, and may it see some of those you speak of rescued, and some of the ignorance and viciousness of the abuse cycle mitigated by caring people.
ReplyDeleteI am in awe! YOU both brought to light a difficult subject. We do need its darkness revealed~
ReplyDeleteI found it brilliant and the timing necessary~
The imagery was vivid and raw, so well done! I love how you two blurred the lines and created a new focus~
Thank you!
thank you, Susie and Kerry. thank you!
ReplyDeleteAmazing! Punch and counter punch hitting me hard - in my gut.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year Toads!
Hard subject to read...hard to write, think, breathe...a punch in the gut, as someone already said, but one we need to wake us up to action! Thanks for the collaboration that, I am sure, made this so powerful, and thanks for the wake-up-call.
ReplyDeletePeace.
A lovely collaborative work, Susie and Kerry ~ Thank you for shedding to light this issue and sharing the links ~
ReplyDeleteThis is a good way to kick off our collaborative effort ~
Happy New Day ~
Whoa, you two have set the bar so high! An important topic, brilliantly written, in a singular voice, which hit EXACTLY the right note - identifying abuse, and then extending the hand of compassion to ease its pain. Fantastic job, Susie and Kerry. Inspiring!
ReplyDeleteExcellent thoughtful and thought-provoking collaboration on an important subject. A powerful way to begin the new poetry year.
ReplyDeleteBravo, ladies! You handled a tough topic thoughtfully and beautifully. We all need to help and protect each other. May I add animals to the plea?
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your wonderful reception of the subject Susie and I worked on together. Susie did an amazing job of gathering the links, and putting it all together. Basically, I just sent her 3 stanzas, and she ran with them to bring this message: Let us all be more proactive in 2013.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for your wonderful comments. It was such a treat to work with Kerry and have her gripping stanzas to respond to. May 2013 find us doing our part to help make the world a better place..
ReplyDeleteBeautiful and heartbreaking work, ladies.
ReplyDeleteWow!
ReplyDeleteHere is the first meat in the sandwich of the new year (pardon me for using this idiom, vegetarians). I'll bite. We cannot empty this day of content and context as if the New Year entered as a naked babe. This poem is beautifully executed and the concern lifted out of the humdrum for us by two amazing poets. Thank you!
The collaboration has produced a poem of more than double strength. I congratulate you both on both the idea and te realisation.
ReplyDeleteLike Fireblossom, I couldn't tell which collaborator was the aggressor, which the victim, until I reached the end. You have both given voices to people who are not yourselves in such a way as to bring the point across with double strength.
ReplyDeleteIt made me cry like a victim, ache like a helpless witness.
Well done, Susie, well done, Kerry. If voices like these ring out through the world, perhaps some day there will be an answer.
K
Sometimes, it takes great courage to write about a topic which is so one sided, but both Toads did a great job of bringing their "roles" to life. well done ladies!
ReplyDeleteGreat to find this wonderful collaboration on a very important topic. I like the way you each took a different voice--the aggressor and the helper. It is so true and sadly seems endless. Good work Kerry and Susie. I have been away for the holidays and will get back into things again here. My collaboration with Sheri is about half done or maybe more! LOL She has probably about given up on me!
ReplyDeleteWhen a poem hits this hard and rings this true, it can never be a bad time to raise awareness. This is a tough and sad read but a truth that has to be spoken again and again. You girls did a brilliant job loved every word of it even though the subject is a sad one. Great job.
ReplyDeleteAbuse is such an important cause for me and New World Creative Union's Wednesday Wake-Up call was to share our passion with a cause we support. Since Kerry and I did a tandem piece for a cause I am adamant about supporting I decided to share it with NWCU.
ReplyDeletehttp://newworldcreativeunion.blogspot.com/2013/01/wwuc-nwcreativeunion-with-jesskristie.html
and well your collaboration went, dear friend susie. between you two poets, you made me take that peek outside myself into a world that's sometimes not a pretty place. especially that last stanza. those places of care, so often looked upon as places of desolation, can in reality be an oasis for those who've done so much and we give back so little...oft times because we're just "too busy" thanks to you both. I vow in the coming year not to be "too busy" to find some strangers' smiles
ReplyDeleteMonty
I am so happy to face this piece again--I mean to read it until I am raw. Very effective poetry.
ReplyDelete