Sam Hamill’s writing, “The Necessity to Speak” was truly inspiring. He got straight to the point and didn’t just tell people what they wanted or were expecting to hear; he gave the cold hard truth. I was unaware about the depth and journey I would be taken on in his writing, just as I was taken on a similar journey while reading poems from Poetry of Witness. Joy Harjo takes you first hand through the eyes of a struggling women in her writing “The Women Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window,” just as Hamill describes the struggles battered and raped women have on an emotional and physical level. These authors are bringing us face to face with our own fears and making us take the plunge into emotions we try not to come into contact with.
Hamill states, “we find poetry embarrassing” (547). The sufferings these poets are writing about aren’t something that is openly spoken and this is why poetry can really help someone express true feelings and emotions. People don’t want to hear of murder, rape and battered women; they believe that if it doesn’t reach their thoughts then there is no possibility of it occurring to them or someone they love. “We persuade ourselves that perhaps, if we don’t talk about sex, sexual involvement won’t happen too soon. And perhaps, if we don’t think about our daughters loving a batterer, that won’t happen either. Our silence grants violence permission” (Hamill 550). This fragment of Hamill’s writing really hit home for me, knowing the fact that I have a daughter myself. You can’t hide behind reality, you have to understand and make use of your knowledge. Yet people still shelter themselves and in return shelter their children from real facts. These facts might not be pretty or candy coated, but neither is the society we live in. By warning my daughter when she is old enough about the hardship of being a women may not be easy, but could one day help protect her. Hamill is simply trying to help people understand reality that is written on paper, which we call poetry.
Sources:
1. Web. 3 Sep 2010. <http://www.mhs.no/article_883.shtml>.
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