We slept on the rug
with our little paws folded.
They threw a glance
with starless eyes.
With our little paws folded,
we caught the insult with our mouths.
With starless eyes,
they took our david's pride.
We caught the insult with our mouth,
and rolled it on our tongues.
They took our david's pride,
left us without jobs,
and rolled it on our tongue.
We knew they sought to blame.
Oh, they left us without jobs,
and taught our young ones shame.
We knew they sought to blame.
They checked our paws for dirt
and taught our young ones shame.
We could not step beyond the porch.
They checked our paws for dirt,
though we have done no wrong.
Why we could not step beyond the porch?
The house was dirty all along.
Though we have done no wrong,
with our little paws folded,
the house was dirty all along,
and we stared with starless eyes
at our paws that did no wrong.
Author notes
This is commentary on discrimination against Jewish people in Canada in the 20s.
Please tell me what you think
Comments
-
I love that "rolling" rhythm, so good.
I'd recommend capitalizing "david's" tho...
Is there a pattern to the line repetition, or did you just choose the most appropiate ones? -
This was chilling. I loved it. When I was a manager at a gas station, I hired a 60-year-old Israeli woman against the suggestions of my superiors. She is one of the single most fascinating people I have ever met who, in turn, drew in a new kind of clientel to our store. One man told us of a trip to Israel where a man was showing a uniform given to the Jewish people during the holocaust. He was telling of the atrocities and then revealed the number on the uniform. Lo and behold, a man in the audience stood up and started crying and screaming. He ran to the front, rolled up his sleeve, and showed the audience the number on his arm that matched the number on the uniform. He couldn't even talk because he was bawling so hard. The same man who told me this story told me that when you go to Israel, you can feel the echoes of the holocaust vibrating even to this day because everyone has family who died in it. It's chilling. You did a wonderful job on this poem.
Write on!
~*~SP~*~
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