hannahs blog | vote for empathy | a poem @hannahs_blog | Uploaded December 2019 | Updated October 2024, 8 hours ago.
so, there's quite a big election happening next week. and I urge you to vote for empathy.
I work in a bookshop, and the two men mentioned in this video actually said these things. One man was adamant that immigration is a terrible thing and immigrants are causing a lot of problems (he said that some are terrorists and we don't have any room for immigrants). The conversation actually started because he was complaining about his eyesight and how he needed private care because the NHS waiting times were too long. I felt bad for him, but then he blamed immigrants, and that's how he started talking about all this xenophobic rubbish. Another man (on a more light-hearted note) was very offended by the book we had out on display called Five on Brexit Island. He picked it up and made remarks on how it's not ok that that book exists.
to be honest, as we're coming up to this election, I'm not hopeful. but I needed to make a poem about it anyway.
fyi, I support immigration (not sure how clear that is in this poem!)
~~~~~words~~~~~
sour tastes erode exercised tongues
cracked teeth untreated
those words shatter the organs
of hopeful bodies
the fragments burst ricochet glass sharp edges
darkened
and skin of the untouched
remains uncut
only laughs protrude
from those dry flaking lips.
"but my eye!" he says,
"waiting waiting blinding,
have to go private
it's the immigrants' fault," his face retorts,
sucked on lemons
the same immigrants
fixed my bones
"some can stay,"
he says,
jihadis on London Bridge
get the other out
always the other
yet when a white man murders
he does so because he is troubled
when a brown man kills
he does so because he is brown
logic disintegrates
we're left homeless in a dystopian territory.
always the other
snowflakes and boomers, bookshops, an old white gentleman holds 'Five on Brexit Island' in his right scrawny hand, frowns, the same person accuses young people of sensitivity, political correctness
and hypocrisy lives on.
people resent anti-semitism
support racism instead
scrape through bills, money for food
support those that will make society poorer.
the world is suffocating
but Menorca is nice this time of year.
and selfishness broods
multiplies
a virus, disease
only treatment
salvation: empathy.
~~~~~about me~~~~~
hello! my name is Hannah and I'm a recent master's graduate! I love books, particularly dystopian fiction, historical fiction, YA, and more (but I like anything that is written well in my opinion😊) ✨ I make mostly booktube and poetry videos on my channel!
~~~~~social media et al.~~~~~
BUY MY POETRY COLLECTION! etsy.com/uk/listing/700278998/petit-poems-zine-hannah-pickard-poetry?ref=shop_home_active_1
my music youtube channel: youtube.com/user/HannahxPickard
my book podcast, the advancement of reading: instagram.com/advancementofreading
/
twitter: twitter.com/hanpicktweets
instagram: instagram.com/hanpickstagram
goodreads: goodreads.com/user/show/57408057-hannah-pickard
facebook: facebook.com/hannahpickardmusic
so, there's quite a big election happening next week. and I urge you to vote for empathy.
I work in a bookshop, and the two men mentioned in this video actually said these things. One man was adamant that immigration is a terrible thing and immigrants are causing a lot of problems (he said that some are terrorists and we don't have any room for immigrants). The conversation actually started because he was complaining about his eyesight and how he needed private care because the NHS waiting times were too long. I felt bad for him, but then he blamed immigrants, and that's how he started talking about all this xenophobic rubbish. Another man (on a more light-hearted note) was very offended by the book we had out on display called Five on Brexit Island. He picked it up and made remarks on how it's not ok that that book exists.
to be honest, as we're coming up to this election, I'm not hopeful. but I needed to make a poem about it anyway.
fyi, I support immigration (not sure how clear that is in this poem!)
~~~~~words~~~~~
sour tastes erode exercised tongues
cracked teeth untreated
those words shatter the organs
of hopeful bodies
the fragments burst ricochet glass sharp edges
darkened
and skin of the untouched
remains uncut
only laughs protrude
from those dry flaking lips.
"but my eye!" he says,
"waiting waiting blinding,
have to go private
it's the immigrants' fault," his face retorts,
sucked on lemons
the same immigrants
fixed my bones
"some can stay,"
he says,
jihadis on London Bridge
get the other out
always the other
yet when a white man murders
he does so because he is troubled
when a brown man kills
he does so because he is brown
logic disintegrates
we're left homeless in a dystopian territory.
always the other
snowflakes and boomers, bookshops, an old white gentleman holds 'Five on Brexit Island' in his right scrawny hand, frowns, the same person accuses young people of sensitivity, political correctness
and hypocrisy lives on.
people resent anti-semitism
support racism instead
scrape through bills, money for food
support those that will make society poorer.
the world is suffocating
but Menorca is nice this time of year.
and selfishness broods
multiplies
a virus, disease
only treatment
salvation: empathy.
~~~~~about me~~~~~
hello! my name is Hannah and I'm a recent master's graduate! I love books, particularly dystopian fiction, historical fiction, YA, and more (but I like anything that is written well in my opinion😊) ✨ I make mostly booktube and poetry videos on my channel!
~~~~~social media et al.~~~~~
BUY MY POETRY COLLECTION! etsy.com/uk/listing/700278998/petit-poems-zine-hannah-pickard-poetry?ref=shop_home_active_1
my music youtube channel: youtube.com/user/HannahxPickard
my book podcast, the advancement of reading: instagram.com/advancementofreading
/
twitter: twitter.com/hanpicktweets
instagram: instagram.com/hanpickstagram
goodreads: goodreads.com/user/show/57408057-hannah-pickard
facebook: facebook.com/hannahpickardmusic
