Saturday, November 24, 2012

African home

In scattered dross of gathering,
you drag what you can find,
onto a vacant piece of earth,
to build a place to hide.
 It doesn't matter what it's called,
 burlap, or hessian bag,
you gather it to make a home,
along with shreds of rag.
And any bits of timber,
that life will throw your way,
along with plastic sheeting
and grass and mud and clay.
This shelter teeters on the edge,
of brief stability,
yet offers house and fragile home;
meets orphan children's need.



http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/a-word-with-laurie.html
Using the word burlap

12 comments:

  1. I love the rhyme and rhythm... for some reason a place to hide really strikes out at me... sad. Thanks so much for participating in the prompt.

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  2. This image of the African home speaks to me ~ It may not be much but it is home to the orphan child ~

    Nice work here ~

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  3. Heartbreaking and really makes one appreciative of a warm-dry, safe home to live in. The image is striking, Ross.

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  4. Well crafted, heartbreaking and so touching.

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  5. This is heartrending. I can just see the child gathering scraps and rags to build a little shelter.

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    1. Yes, I watched it more than once, particularly in Angola where we lived during the civil war.

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  6. So beautifully written, but such a heartbreaking truth.

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  7. This is my favorite part:

    "you drag what you can find,
    onto a vacant piece of earth,
    to build a place to hide"

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    Replies
    1. And they do until the police come along and pull down their 'huts' and move them on and they have to look for another vacant piece of earth and do it all again. The sad thing is that sometimes the police destroy their possessions as well as their homes. Not that they have much in the first place.

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  8. ah, you managed to make this rhyme and meter work to emphasize the subject matter, like a nursery rhyme that no one is reading to these children. excellent.

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  9. Goodness...hard to think but I know it's true. A jolting message in this and so beautifully done.

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