Willowbrook poems on Hello Poetry

John Dec 2012

They're children
They're just children!
He yelled at the camera
And they're forced into this
Living Hell with no way out!

He tried his best to raise
Whatever awareness could be aroused
It was wrong
These children
They were writhing
In their own
**** and ****
Curled up in little *****
Without an inch of clothing on them

When he came in
The orderlies avoided him
And his camera
They couldn't be held responsible
For the atrocities that were taking place
In the buildings where they secured the little income they had

The nurses shot ***** looks
There were few of them
Only about one was assigned to a room
Which housed around fifty children apiece
When he asked them
Can you spare a moment?
For the camera and the lives of these poor kids?*
They're eyebrows pointed down in a sharp line
And they quickly rushed away

He couldn't believe it
Children
Not older than ten years
Running about
Bare naked
Covered in the foulest of substances
Emanating smells you couldn't imagine
Yelling incoherently
And
Just as the orderlies and nurses did
Running in the opposite direction of the camera
And the reporter
That would expose the place they called "home"
For the snake pit it was

In the 1980s, Geraldo Rivera did an exposé on the Willowbrook State School in Staren Island, New York. This writing is based on the images they captured during their trip to the "snake pit".

EDB Mar 2014

Moving On

Drawing near is the dire storm,
whether wither or stand with her?
To be content in my perpetual norms,
or alter my nature altogether?

Moving on: to chase or to run?

Nothing in this world is surely proved,
theories will always reign.
Independence I will surely lose
but there could be many things to gain.

Moving on: to chase or to run?

Is the past the key to the present,
or something you run from?
Does one repair his car's dents,
or does the reminder come undone?

Moving on: to chase or to run?

These scars mark where I've been burned,
memories of days gone by.
Willowbrook where I return,
I think I know the reason why.

Moving on: to chase or to run?

I'd say this poem is about transitions. Taking the next step after a certain thing happens in your life. The first half speaks about the author trying to move on forge new relationships. The second talks about the author's nature to second guess. Clearly something in his past is holding him back. Should he run from his problems? Towards them? Chase new pleasures and experiences? The author is naked at the crossroads, and his most vulnerable state.
Or its a poem about The Lion King.
either/or

#solitude #emotions #vulnerability #simba

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