Indifference
Posted: 21 May 2004
Word Count: 116
Summary: My response to the Hone Tuwhare poem we have been looking at in Poetry Seminar this week. Not the same subject, but, I hope, the same sort of sentiments.
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Where are those valiant women
striving for the seemingly
unattainable?
Who alienated their sisters,
angered their brothers
and died in their quest
for justice
and fairness.
Did the chains chafe?
How did the hunger gnaw at your stomachs?
Will you again fight in your combat gear
of bustle, corset, buttons, lace and laces?
Will the banners once more be unfurled,
proclaiming equality?
Or will another have to die beneath
the galloping hooves
of an age-old hierarchy?
No. No need, no problem.
Stilettos click and
pink trainers occasionally
pad across the echoing Sunday School Hall.
And polling cards lie discarded
under the pizza boxes
and milk cartons
and wine bottles
and chocolate wrappers...
You died for me?
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Comments by other Members
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 roovacrag at 22:56 on 21 May 2004
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Mary Pankurst died to give us a vote.
I always use mine.
Great one Joan as always.
Well done.
xx Alice
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 Nell at 10:48 on 22 May 2004
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Joanie! I had goosebumps towards the end of this, and thought I might cry - even though I have serious reservations about the justifiability of the central incident. Just one small question: No. No need, no problem. seems to suggest that the goal has been achieved, yet the discarded polling cards made me wonder - are you saying that these were unused? Then there's the last question, so I feel an ambiguity here, although possibly that's just me, or maybe you intended that? Much food for thought, will return to this.
Nell.
<Added>
Joanie, the title, I should have noticed it but was so eager to get to your poem that it was overlooked. All is now clear, and the poem stands perfectly balanced. Great!
Nell
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LONGJON at 11:37 on 22 May 2004
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Well done Joanie, you've hit the proverbial nail right on the head. Your poem and Hones' are about the same thing - either be prepared to fight for your beliefs or lose them.
Who was it that said " the only thing required for evil to triumph over good is that good men do nothing."
John P.
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tinyclanger at 13:21 on 22 May 2004
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Yup, I see the link here Joanie. I like the way that you have echoed Tuwhare with a clear divide between the Then and the Now, and suggested the almost 'nobility' of the Then, the emptiness and vaccuousness of the Now.
Another connection is the appeal to sensation...showing the rawness of the struggle. As Tuwhare tells us of the savage practices of the warriors, you tell of the suffering and pain endured by the women. It's 'raw' like his piece.
well done!
x
tc
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 joanie at 18:11 on 22 May 2004
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Nell, John and tc.... Thank you for your comments and observations.
John, I am so glad that you thought it was a similar thing - it was Edmund Burke who said that; that is so very challenging, isn't it?
Nell, thank you YET AGAIN for your encouragement! If nothing else, WW has taught me that it is very important to encourage each other. I really do appreciate it. (It is teaching me an awful lot in addition to that, I hasten to add)
tc - thank you!! I value your comments - intelligent and perceptive, as always.
joanie
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miffle at 20:53 on 22 May 2004
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Joanie - I like the contrast here between then and now, especially in the contrasting fashions. A poem scopey in time.
Did wonder a little about the phrase 'combat gear' (unfortunately, I can't get combat trousers, out of my head i.e. as sold in Next etc!!) but you do go on to define yours, specifically - 'bustle' a great word for rooting in time!
Especially liked the lines 'Or will another... age-old hierarchy?' And think the questions work very effectively - i.e. they jolt / accuse / shake off the apathy...
An important point made! Write on, Nikki :-)
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joanie at 21:10 on 22 May 2004
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Thank you, Nikki. Yes, I did think about the fashion contrast... I know what you mean about 'combat gear' - perhaps I should try to find something more, ... in keeping?? I don't know!
Thanks for your comments!
joanie
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gard at 22:19 on 22 May 2004
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Hi Joannie
nice one! I guess if you wanted to you could say "combats"
as people do use this to meant "the combat attire"..only if you were thinking of miffles suggestion, though combat gear is fine by me.
like the image of stiletoes click ..
I suppose being emancipated is a double edged sword of freedom and choice....
have women gone wrong? They do say that men are confused these days, their mothers were one type of women ( least my generation) and their wives another. Since a lot of men look for a second mother they are confused by the disparity ha ha.....
I wonder if women could do more, I remember the Greenham common women, I always thought they were warriors...?
G
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The Walrus at 18:17 on 23 May 2004
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It's all been said above(!) but just wanted to say I really enjoyed this too.
Great piece.
The Walrus
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joanie at 19:33 on 23 May 2004
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Thank you, G and Walrus. Yes, I have thought about the Greenham Common women; I think they alienated their sisters too, like the suffragettes! I find the whole thing very sad, somehow - the ones who are prepared to fight for a cause are often treated badly. I feel guilty, almost. Thank you for your responses.
joanie
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LONGJON at 20:51 on 23 May 2004
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Hi Joanie,
You've taken an interesting turn on this one - makes me wonder what all the people standing in Whitehall on Armistice Day are really thinking during the minutes silence, and then how long their recollection is afterwards. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it, eh?
Well done
John P.
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