A Parody Of Pro-Life
Mar 12 '04
The Bottom Line With much credit for inspiration to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who wrote "A Psalm Of Life."
Parody has at least two meanings in this case--details below!!!
A parody (in the case of poetry) is writing in the style of another poet.
Generally, we think of parodies as being humorous, and I've done plenty of those--but I also use this vehicle to write of more serious things, as I've done here.
Parody can also have a meaning beyond literary use to mean a cheap imitation of something--in this case, where some people claim to be "pro-life" while barely having a clue of what it really means to truly believe in the sanctity of life.
I wrote this poem many years ago, and it won first place in Poetry Forum's December 1993 contest.
This poem--and another one I'm putting here called He Didn't Qualify--was also included in a chapbook I put together in the summer of 1994 called HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! TIME TO SHAKE THINGS UP and GET A LITTLE MESSY!!!
Without further ado, here are the two poems. . .
A PARODY OF PRO-LIFE
Tell me not, with righteous outrage,
Of the ones who won't be born,
While too many womb's alumni
Slip through cracks or meet with scorn.
Life is real; life is earnest;
And the womb is not the end.
Piously, you picket clinics,
While some lost soul needs a friend.
You call rehabilitation
"Bleeding-heart crap; sure to fail.
We should have more executions;
Let the others rot in jail!"
Life is real; life is earnest;
And the womb is not the end.
Piously, you picket clinics,
While some lost soul needs a friend.
"All the homeless must be druggies--
Either that or lazy bums.
If we helped them find some housing,
They'd just turn it into slums!"
Life is real; life is earnest;
And the womb is not the end.
Piously, you picket clinics,
While some lost soul needs a friend.
"All this funding for A.I.D.S. research
Has been getting on my nerves.
I think, if a man goes sinning,
He should get what he deserves!"
Life is real; life is earnest;
And the womb is not the end.
Piously, you picket clinics,
While some lost soul needs a friend.
"I'm aware that they can't help it
That their brains don't work so good.
I'm ALL FOR group homes for retards--
Just not in MY neighborhood!"
Life is real; life is earnest;
And the womb is not the end.
Piously, you picket clinics,
While some lost soul needs a friend.
Piously, you picket clinics,
Causing pregnant women strife;
Shaming them for their decisions;
Claiming that you are pro-life.
Life is real; life is earnest;
And the womb is not the end.
Piously, you picket clinics,
While some lost soul needs a friend.
For more on my take of the meaning of "pro-life" and my personal views on choice and abortion, go here.
He Didn't Qualify
Society remained comfortable
with putting a child who needed major surgery
on his emotional well-being
into one program after another
that had only band-aids to offer.
There were places he could have gone
to get the help he needed,
but he didn't qualify.
He was always either
too bright or too slow;
too young or too old;
too financially well-off
or not financially well-off enough;
too this or too that.
He grew to be a man,
and his problems grew worse--
MUCH WORSE!
There was a cell on death-row
and an execution date--
He qualified.
One final note, if you want to learn more about things you can do to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem, check out some of these wonderful writings for inspiration:
The Way Things Are - a random Friday night ramble by badkittyM
A Quest For Crayons by Candice923
The W/O part might be dated, but the following is an ongoing project:
Paul Pavlou ~ Born January 3, 1987...Died May 18,2002 by jetbluefan1
STREET TEENS by Kassie
CPS strikes again! Will your baby be next?? by LisaDo
Popular Music Should Be Fun and Enlightening by bobbo428
You can look all around this neighborhood and find many more inspiring examples, I'm sure.
And, if you either come across something like this or have one of your own, please feel free to post the information and URL in the comment section!!!
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