OK, so I have a sombre challenge for talented poets at AP....I have recently been researching my mother's adoption, and have come across some horrifying facts about adoption in the 1960s. However, much of the process is still cloaked in secrecy, so.....
Imagine you are a young, single pregnant woman in the 1960s. You know the father well enough but marriage is not realistic. Your parents send you to a mother and baby home run by the catholic church for confinement as soon as they learn of your pregnancy. They are ashamed of your social faux pas, and the stigma attached to unmarried pregnant women.
The home is cold, stark and uncomfortable. The staff show no real sympathy or empathy for you or the 30 other women in the same situation there.
You all sleep in one room, confused and bewildered about what will happen next. Occasionally, doctors visit to examine you, or show students various stages of the pregnancy. No one will look you in your eyes. The sense of shame is overwhelming. All alone, you feel your baby kick deep inside your belly as it grows inside you.
You are forced to work long days, manual labour, for free, right up until the day you go into labour.
The birth is terrifying-not least because you have no idea what is happening or pain relief. Your baby is taken from the room as soon as he/she is born.
Later, you are met with a social worker who tells you that your baby will be adopted. You are told you have no choice, you are entitled to no benefits, that you will be classed as mentally unstable if you do not sign your baby away. You are not allowed to see your baby until you have agreed to the adoption. You sign, as every other mother does in the same situation. The social worker writes in the file, "in baby's best interests".
This is the truth behind thousands of adoptions in England in the 1960s.
I want poets to capture the feelings of the mother in the aftermath of the adoption-either immediately or many, many years later. It can be either tragic or triumphant, have a happy ending or sad.
Immortalise their plight in a poem that blows me away.
Rules
No dirty pretty
Label appropriately-swearing fine but label as adult
No sTiCkY cAps
No anti religous rants/deliberately offensive material
OK, that's it! I will comment on every entry. Points may go up if the entries are good enough.
Imagine you are a young, single pregnant woman in the 1960s. You know the father well enough but marriage is not realistic. Your parents send you to a mother and baby home run by the catholic church for confinement as soon as they learn of your pregnancy. They are ashamed of your social faux pas, and the stigma attached to unmarried pregnant women.
The home is cold, stark and uncomfortable. The staff show no real sympathy or empathy for you or the 30 other women in the same situation there.
You all sleep in one room, confused and bewildered about what will happen next. Occasionally, doctors visit to examine you, or show students various stages of the pregnancy. No one will look you in your eyes. The sense of shame is overwhelming. All alone, you feel your baby kick deep inside your belly as it grows inside you.
You are forced to work long days, manual labour, for free, right up until the day you go into labour.
The birth is terrifying-not least because you have no idea what is happening or pain relief. Your baby is taken from the room as soon as he/she is born.
Later, you are met with a social worker who tells you that your baby will be adopted. You are told you have no choice, you are entitled to no benefits, that you will be classed as mentally unstable if you do not sign your baby away. You are not allowed to see your baby until you have agreed to the adoption. You sign, as every other mother does in the same situation. The social worker writes in the file, "in baby's best interests".
This is the truth behind thousands of adoptions in England in the 1960s.
I want poets to capture the feelings of the mother in the aftermath of the adoption-either immediately or many, many years later. It can be either tragic or triumphant, have a happy ending or sad.
Immortalise their plight in a poem that blows me away.
Rules
No dirty pretty
Label appropriately-swearing fine but label as adult
No sTiCkY cAps
No anti religous rants/deliberately offensive material
OK, that's it! I will comment on every entry. Points may go up if the entries are good enough.
Closed for judging
- Closed for judging on November 29
- Rewards: Gold: 750, Silver: 300, Bronze: 150, Honorable mention: 5 people
- This is not an anonymous contest - the editors will be able to see your name.
Entries [7]
1 - 7 of 7
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• Commented on by judge.
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• Commented on by judge.
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Inhaling the scents of disgust and distrust women are lined up in rows for feeding
Single mothers full of discomfort and pain• Commented on by judge. -
Her fingers formed beneath
my suffering; I sangby apantesis 21 lines, on Nov 29 1:54 AM• Not viewed by judge.
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Comments
1 - 11 of 11
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What an amazing idea for a contest;
will definitely be back for sure
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Strange to think of all this happening during an era supposedly the "permissive society"!
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Not sure if I can get some penning on this topic but I will say very chilling topic and I know it would kill me
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wow, the picture you paint of the young women facing these circumstances is very moving and vivid. I never thought about it in depth before. How terribly frightening. My heart goes out to them.
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This happened a lot in the United States as well. There is a true story book called "A Death In White Bear Lake" by Barry Siegel about a woman who was forced to give up her baby in one of these places. She went to find him years later and found out he was murdered by his adopted mother.
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Thank you for all the comments thus far about this very sensitive subject.
Below is a link to trackers international which can provide more information...
http://www.uktrackers.co.uk/ -
Bookmarked.
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I don't know if I'll be able to write something for this contest, but it is an amazing topic. I had no idea things like that used to go on...It really makes me apprectiate the time and place I live in now, because I'm not married, and my daughter is due any day now. If I can come up with a good poem, I'll definitely enter!
Alicia Lynn and Sophie Lynn
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Wow... a sobering topic indeed... Kudos to you for hosting such a contest.. as well as making all aware of such a tramatic event... what a terrible thing to do to a young mother... Thank God above that we are much more accepting now.... Not much... But a little.
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Wow, I wish I would've caught this before it was closed for judging! I recently had a child that I placed with an adoptive family. However, my case was different as I got to see her, it was my choice, and it's a very open adoption. I can't even begin to imagine how it must've been for those women. I felt a little of the shame, since most my family disowned me. But wow, I don't even know if I would've been able to write on this topic. It seems to distressing.
Great prompt! -
ouch! By the time I found this contest it was already closed! Amazing prompt!
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