[stylist] poems of controversial content

Sun May 22 17:36:56 UTC 2011

I like that name!
Barbara

Let every nation know whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay 
any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose 
any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.--John 
F. Kennedy
-----Original Message----- 
From: Judith Bron
Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2011 9:49 AM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] poems of controversial content

How about, "My not to be precious child"?  JB
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Barbara Hammel" <poetlori8 at msn.com>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2011 10:59 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] poems of controversial content

> Funny how before I sent those, the stanzas were individual but when it 
> came through, it's all double-spaced.
> Hey, even if they're bad, can you help me think of names for them besides 
> Sestina 1 and 2?
> Barbara
>
>
>
>
> Let every nation know whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay 
> any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose 
> any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.--John 
> F. Kennedy
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Barbara Hammel
> Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2011 8:51 PM
> To: stylist at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [stylist] poems of controversial content
>
> Okay, sestinas are my newest form—along with villanelles—to master.  Do 
> you think both of these are no good or do you actually like one of them?
>  SESTINA 1
>
>
> Who thinks it's okay for partial-birth
>
> Abortions to be performed at all?
>
> It's not only just a mass of cells
>
> But a perfectly-formed baby
>
> That's growing at the half-way point;
>
> A miniature little person.
>
>
>
> Yes, a little, tiny person
>
> Who will grow and gain before birth.
>
> If you've held one you'll see the point
>
> That there's nothing to the argument at all
>
> About whether a twenty-weeker's a baby
>
> And not just a throw-away mass of cells.
>
>
>
> Sure, we all are made of cells,
>
> A cat, a flower, a rock, a person,
>
> Even if it's inside it's a baby,
>
> Just much smaller than it will be at birth.
>
> If the mothers one and all
>
> Saw sonograms they'd get that point
>
>
>
> That there's no return at any point
>
> Once the fertilized egg divides into cells
>
> That will rapidly form all
>
> Of that little person
>
> To be at birth
>
> When you finally hold that baby.
>
>
>
> After you're pregnant with a baby
>
> Is not at the point
>
> You decide not to give birth.
>
> You're not just eliminating cells,
>
> But a very tiny person,
>
> With fingers and toes and heart and all.
>
>
>
> Once, that is all
>
> I wanted--a baby--
>
> And too early that little person,
>
> Came and made the point
>
> That very soon those cells
>
> Become a miniature of the child at birth.
>
>
>
> O little person, there was never a point
>
> When all I thought you were was cells.
>
> You were always my baby, and sad was your birth.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  SESTINA 2
>
>
>
> When I think of aborting a baby,
>
> Especially after the first trimester,
>
> I think of a very tiny boy
>
> Who also knew death before life
>
> Outside of his mother's womb
>
> And not because she chose that to be
>
>
>
> But because God had a reason for it to be.
>
> O how we wanted that precious baby
>
> That took extra help to grow in the womb
>
> But by the middle of the second trimester
>
> A tangled cord took the life
>
> Of our longed-for little boy.
>
>
>
> He was a perfect miniature boy.
>
> All his parts were where they should be,
>
> He just possessed no breath of life
>
> As I tenderly held that wee baby.
>
> I know what abortions past first trimester
>
> Are removing from the womb.
>
>
>
> I didn't wish to empty the womb
>
> But he was a very wiggly little boy
>
> And at twenty weeks, in second trimester,
>
> His future, we knew, was not to be.
>
> How could you abort a baby
>
> That old and take its life?
>
>
>
> Sure, at twenty weeks life
>
> Is impossible outside of the womb
>
> But for half its gestation you've carried that baby,
>
> A perfectly miniature girl or boy.
>
> After seeing that, I wonder how it can be
>
> That you'd want to abort even in first trimester,
>
>
>
> Let alone second or third trimester.
>
> At conception is the beginning of life,
>
> Or how could that zygote come to be
>
> A growing fetus in the womb
>
> Then enter the world as a girl or boy,
>
> That long-anticipated baby?
>
>
>
> We so wanted you to be, little one in the womb,
>
> After the third trimester, the precious boy
>
> Who we could share our life, beginning as our baby.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Let every nation know whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay 
> any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose 
> any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.--John 
> F. Kennedy
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