justice, apology, or just another excuse? - Page 2 - Writers Forum

mammamaia · 06-23-2005, 09:41 AM

i'm leaning toward danny's and your view on this, too... any suggestions on how to jar more jarringly?

don't be jealous, since i've probably been writing for much longer than you've been alive... and was born with a love of words, besides... so, i think i was gifted with a bit of an edge and can't claim the credit... but, thanks for the kind words!

hugs, maia

Psycho6058 · 06-23-2005, 12:20 PM

You must like Billy Holiday....One she sang had a line in it you used.

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

mammamaia · 06-23-2005, 12:26 PM

oh, yeah!... i love billie holiday's work... and i used the line on purpose, as the most graphic depiction of lynchings ever written... wonderfully awful, isn't it?

valeca · 06-23-2005, 12:34 PM

Maia! You swore! My oh my!

Heh, good job. Leave the lines as they are. The difference between them and the rest gives them impact.

**Penelope** · 06-23-2005, 03:09 PM

I must be feeling contrary today but this poem irked me unduly. There are champions of justice living in the same locale and of the same race. It ain't the race persay, it's the inhuman element that creates monsters and bigots. I'm prone to admire those who go against the grain and wish there were more poems celebrating their ideals and resolve.

mammamaia · 06-24-2005, 10:55 AM

thanks for the needed input, val... sorry if i shocked you

but i do 'swear' quite often, when watching the news and this work called for letting loose with a couple...

sorry this struck an irksome chord with you, pen... as abe noted, 'you can't please all of the people all of the time'... guess i'll have to live with it... at least you read it... as you may have guessed by now, i leave paeans to this 'n that to others, while i specialize in uncovering/displaying our warts, mainly for those who prefer to pretend they don't exist...

hugs, maia

**Penelope** · 06-27-2005, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mammamaia

sorry this struck an irksome chord with you, pen... as abe noted, 'you can't please all of the people all of the time'... guess i'll have to live with it... at least you read it... as you may have guessed by now, i leave paeans to this 'n that to others, while i specialize in uncovering/displaying our warts, mainly for those who prefer to pretend they don't exist...

hugs, maia

Thanks for making my point by quoting a great man who was a champion of justice for all who happened to be white. There are southerners who risk a great deal by doing the same thing.

mammamaia · 06-27-2005, 09:57 AM

don't know why you feel the need to argue over this... i certainly don't champion the 'white' cause, as should be obvious from my work... i wasn't quoting abe lincoln for any reason but the logic of that one saying... wish you wouldn't read more into it...

_idyllic · 06-27-2005, 10:05 AM

loved it. could tell you had strong emotions through your words. expressing how you feel about these situations in the world is interesting.

mammamaia · 06-27-2005, 10:11 AM

thanks, idyllic!... as a philosopher, that's what i do... i use poetry and essays to hold a mirror iup to humankind, so [hopefully] at least a few will see how what they do looks like to 'others'...

for lots more, on just about any subject you can imagine, browse my site when you have time...

hugs, maia

mswietek · 06-27-2005, 11:58 AM

Maia,

I think the lines are solid, and I agree with the sentiment for the most, but I have to say I didn't care for the last stanza at all. I don't apologize for anyone else. Think of it this way:

Should all muslims have to apologize for 9/11?
Should all Christians have to apologize for the Crusades?
Should all blacks have to apologize for that trucker who was assaulted during the Rodney King riots?
Should all cops have to apologize to Rodney King?
Should all Germans have to apologize to all Jews?

The problem I have with this need for "all group" contrition is that it ignores the fact that while members of a certain group may have perpetrated certain acts (and may continue to do so) there were many other members of that group that both disagreed with and tried to prevent such acts (at the cost of their own lives).

The the idea that I have to apologize for all whites for racism, is no different than saying all blacks have to apologize for gang shootings. Both statements are themsevles generalizations and discriminatory.

Michael

mammamaia · 06-27-2005, 12:01 PM

good point, michael... and faultless logic, i might add... so, with that last nail in the coffin of my putative apology, i will herewith delete it from the post and from my file copy...

thanks, all, for all of your input... as always, i'm glad i asked...

love and hugs, maia

mswietek · 06-27-2005, 12:09 PM

Nothing wrong with you apologizing if you feel the necesity. I was just giving you my reaction. For myself, personally, removing that last stanza keeps the poem focused on the racism , cronyism, and other -isms that still exist and are still destructive in society and makes a nice statement.

I also heard arguments about how he should be given leniancy as he is so old. So should we reward those who create heinous acts and get away with it for a while?

Michael

mammamaia · 06-27-2005, 12:19 PM

no, i didn't really feel the necessity, but wondered if i should, which is why i threw its relevance open to discussion...

and, no, i don't see how/why age should ever be a factor in punishing evildoers... how long they lived doesn't lessen the harm they did to those whose lives they cut short/ruined...

mswietek · 06-27-2005, 12:20 PM

If anything, it makes it worse...the years they lived without being caught are years their victims never had...