Hey Mister!©Louise Gallagher 2010
Hey mister
can you spare me
a dime
The cupboards
are bare
and my mama
she's working
and my baby sister
she's crying
and hunger
it's poundin'
like a freight train
rumblin'
into the west
where my daddy
done go
in search of work
anything
to help us all
get by
I want
to go too
but mama done cry
and papa done
made me
promise
to stay
but I'm not gettin'
anywhere
helpin' out
and I don't know
no more
what to do
Hey mister
can you spare me
a dime?
Our bellies
are shrunken
and hope
is a tumblin'
with every passer-by
lookin'
the other way
like they can't see
barefeet
and hollow cheek bones
like they can't hear
bellies
rumblin'
and tears fallin'
you don't gotta
stop
mister
you don't gotta
hear
I promise
you can drop a dime
without losin' a step
you can throw it from
over there
and I won't care
if you hit me
but please
Mister
can you spare me
a dime?
The good ladies
of the church
done bring us a basket
filled
with cans and a chicken
but we ate it
'cause empty bellies
need fillin'
and mama
she didn't eat
nothin'
but pick at the bones
we left behind
Hey mister
can you spare me
a dime?
********
It is another One Stop Poetry -- One Shot Sunday Poetry Contest.
Write a poem based on the theme and photo -- link in and .... fame and fortune await! Okay -- maybe not fame and fortune, but definitely a lot of fun and fascinating reads and the joy of being part of something bigger than just this page sitting here. The fun of stretching your creative muscles to encompass words that make pictures and a photo that brings words to life.
Click on over to One Stop Poetry and immerse yourself in wonder!
Thank you to Leslie Moon and Pete Marshall who shared their poems at One Stop today and to Adam Dustus for hosting today's event and for inspiring us all to poetic verse with his poem, Our Gang!
18 comments:
oh this gave me shivers..think it must be horrible if you don't have enough food to feed your children...great take on the prompt
Love how you take the prompt and run with it! Could picture the perceptions described and the speaker wanting to help the family. Great work, Louise!
Thanks Claudia -- I love how we all take the same photo and 'see' different words appear.
And thanks Adam -- I love your one Shot Sunday prompts!
Good one, Louise. Rapid-fire and haunting at the same time.
Thanks Glynn -- I found yours haunting too -- the juxtaposition from then and now. Brilliant.
Oh, Louise. Such vivid images and emotions!
Pappa done go, mama done cry..lol what else need be to a paint a more vivid picture
Wow! Very real and touching. Reminds me of something I did several years ago ... I'll post it at http://joycewycoff.blogspot.com/
Tis not the season for children to go hungry.
This has a rap-like quality that we can "hear" as we read the poem. Great take on the prompt.
Direct and pounding home the truth behind the picture. Hunger's never so real as when you see it in your own family.
wow! brilliantly done!
thank you
Wow. I felt the heaviness of responsibility on skinny shoulders and the hopelessness of a child, a mother, a father who give all for nothing in return. And I wanted to dump my purse. Tears. And blessings.
Shivers... I thought of writing from the child's perspective, but could not find the words. You definitely found them!
Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement!
I like the take on the old cliche, "Hey mister can you spare me a dime." I can just hear the boys saying that. Even dimes were hard to come-by in the Depression. I think they were happy to have a dime in their pocket in those days.
I wasn't born yet, but, I heard the old-timers talk about it sometimes. My parents lived in the country, therefore, they could grow a vegetable garden and preserve food for winter. So I don't think it hit them as bad as the people in the cities.
Great expression of how those children felt.
Anita.
beautiful words from a beautiful heart.
trisha
mydomainpvt.wordpress.com
i can see that kid
he doesn't give up
he gets his dime.
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