Tinker Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Zimbabwe Child Papa cross the Limpopo not fear crocodile say, get work gone whole year. No letter for Mama no medicine. Miriam, she eight sweep floor, clean baby wipe Mama’s brow spoon mankata broth. No school for Miriam no medicine. Beggar bowl for maize I dig in dirt find siboyani root to feed scorpion in belly. No maize for make nsimi no medicine. Baby sick like Mama before she go to clinic not come home baby cry dry tears No milk for baby no medicine. No one see no one care throw away Zimbabwe child. No letter, no school no maize, no milk. No medicine. ---- Judi Van Gorder Notes: ▼ This was written in 2011. At that time a child died every 15 minutes in Zimbabwe. Once known as the "bread basket of Africa" the farm lands lie fallow and unworked, taken from the farmers and given as prizes to the military vets who fought the revolution. Life expectancy is now age 45 and unemployment is 80%. AIDS and starvation are rampant. The inflation rate since 1978 is 231 million percent. Robert Mugabe has been president since 1978. He is running for reelection this year at the age of 87. Mugabe finally was forced to resign in November 2017 at the age of 93 and is currently under military arrest. 2013 International Health Organizations through much effort instituted health reforms that reduced drastically the transmission of AIDS from mother to infant and continued efforts have brought the infected rate to 13.7% of the population. In 2017 the life expectancy is age 59 so there has been improvement. Zimbabwe still has a long way to go. Limpopo, crocodile infested river on the patrolled border between Zimbabwe and South Africa which is the most popular route for starving Zimbabweans looking for work, many die from the crocodiles. Others are caught and placed in refugee camps that are little more than internment camps and still others are simply turned back. siboyani root, native African plant, the root is dug up and must be boiled 5 hours before it can be mashed in the broth. mankata root, native African plant, the root is found in swampy areas. nsimi is a kind of dumpling or bread that is made from cornmeal with oil and water then rolled into balls and eaten dipped into vegetable broth. Quote ~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~ For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David W. Parsley Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Another haunting to light me to my comfortable bed tonight. Your ghosts are even scarier than "Glass Moon." A realistic persona and voice, speaking from a real crisis of our time. - Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsen M. Callirhoe Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 breaks my heart that anyone has to starve to death but especially young children, so sad indeed. i read a article about this topic. they talked about this subject yesterday on yahoo. the aricle also talked about the election there, starving children. the clipping didn't talk about life before 1979 there. it also didn't give some of the history lesson you gave on your post in literature post i think. i love the poem. i read poetry from like about 15 poetry forums past and present and i have come across about 15,000 ametuer poets. about 100 give 150 or take 50 aprox.. you rank in the top 10 in my opinion in writing poems. one of my goddess belliever friend's is my favorate period. in that 15,000 i would rank myself in the top 500 now but not 2 years ago. my spirit guides are counseling me and tutoring me now. when i make typos it is because of my eyesisgt among me having a heard trime seeing the keyboard because i can't get nursing aides to help get me pulled up because i am to heavy and th are under staff etc... aleksandra is myy 2nd favorite poet. i really click with what she says. i think like what she writes. probbly uncanny but who knows... i miss pawnshop (aka jonathan, seaqull, or carlo). i loved his poetry. i think he would be number 5 of my favorite poes. number 4 wold be carl sandburg he wrote "onion days." that guy is who i model my poetry after. i write like that completey. i love his poetry. i love edgar allen poe, shakespere, carl sandburg, and two females i can't think of right now. :icon_sunny: :icon_sunny: :icon_sunny: :icon_sunny: victor Quote Larsen M. Callirhoe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyv Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 An appropriate choice of stanza and effective use of refrain. The pace varies just a bit in the last verse and delivers a strong ending. Thanks also for the notes and for raising awareness. Tony Quote Here is a link to an index of my works on this site: tonyv's Member Archive topic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinker Posted January 31, 2018 Author Share Posted January 31, 2018 This was written in 2011 and I recently was reminded of it because I had read that late November 2017 at the age of 93, Robert Mugabe resigned and is now under military arrest. Stats show a vast improvement due largely to the mammoth efforts of international health organizations that stopped the transmitting of AIDs from mother to infant among other things. ~~Tink Quote ~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~ For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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