|
I don't think it is either. I have stuff that people call abstract. Behind all my poems there's always a back story but I sometimes try to make a little go a long way and I never know if it's successful. I write other poems that are similar to the one I wrote yesterday BLUES IN THE NIGHT which is sort of in your face and prose-like and when I write them I'm unsure if they're poetry too. When I finished that one I thought--well there it is a story--and I ruminated about it off & on for a day and I realize it is a poem. The spur that prompted the write was the 50s and the entire piece is about the repression that was the 50s. These two ways of dominating women were the most "in your face" that I could think of.
However, the reality is women could vote, (though they were encouraged not to). Black men and women however were forced to a poll tax and other measures meant to discourage their vote. Sometimes the really poor were paid under the table by party bosses in order to stack the ballot boxes to get specific results.
Women in Texas could not own property, make major purchases (for a car, say) without having a man co-sign for her, couldn't hope to be a professional, and if she had been abandoned by a man and chose to live alone and rear her child, her reputation and that of her child(ren) was immeasurably tarnished. Other children might not be allowed to play or fraternize with them. So now having thought about all that and having read the comments on it, I believe it is a poem; but I never know about my own work. Comments are invaluable. They give you others' perceptions and let you know whether it works or not. The more we information we share, the better our work is.
|
Abstract Poetry
