Not Sure Yet
Viewing comments for Chapter 6 "Letters on a State"Free verse poems
20 total reviews
Comment from BeasPeas
Hi Carol. This is a unique piece, using the map with the young women's initials to pinpoint where they were killed. Your effort to bring attention to these crimes is admirable. So sad for the victim and the families. There is a gap between the tribal police and the governmental police/crime units, not because the victim isn't important but because of tribal rules defining which can be brought in and which can't. A sad state of affairs. Marilyn
reply by the author on 20-Oct-2018
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Hi Carol. This is a unique piece, using the map with the young women's initials to pinpoint where they were killed. Your effort to bring attention to these crimes is admirable. So sad for the victim and the families. There is a gap between the tribal police and the governmental police/crime units, not because the victim isn't important but because of tribal rules defining which can be brought in and which can't. A sad state of affairs. Marilyn
Comment Written 16-Oct-2018
reply by the author on 20-Oct-2018
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You are right about the gap, I think that's a huge part of the problem...and because they are poor with few opportunities in the reservations, and the problem with alcohol. Probably meth now too. It really is sad!
Thanks, Marilyn,
Carol
Comment from lightink
Hi Dear,
This touched me so deeply - sensitive, caring and deeply creative.
I loved that you allowed this series of tragedy to become a special message on a map. I love that you can feel this special sisterhood - and let them live in all of us.
Amazing piece on an incredibly painful topic.
Live,
J
reply by the author on 20-Oct-2018
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Hi Dear,
This touched me so deeply - sensitive, caring and deeply creative.
I loved that you allowed this series of tragedy to become a special message on a map. I love that you can feel this special sisterhood - and let them live in all of us.
Amazing piece on an incredibly painful topic.
Live,
J
Comment Written 13-Oct-2018
reply by the author on 20-Oct-2018
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Hi Jyoti, thank you for checking in, I appreciate your very kind review of my poem. It is a painful topic, I hope and believe that the situation can be changed.
love,
Carol
Comment from Ulla
Hi Carol, I don't have a six to give you d=for this beautiful free verse poem addressing such a profound a distressing situation for so many native women. I didn't realise that and I find it appalling. I'm so sorry. Very well written. Warm regards. Ulla:)))
reply by the author on 14-Oct-2018
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Hi Carol, I don't have a six to give you d=for this beautiful free verse poem addressing such a profound a distressing situation for so many native women. I didn't realise that and I find it appalling. I'm so sorry. Very well written. Warm regards. Ulla:)))
Comment Written 13-Oct-2018
reply by the author on 14-Oct-2018
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Thanks Ulla, I did not know about this issue until recently. I?m glad to see that there?s more information about it coming to light finally.
Hugs,
Carol
Comment from Ben Colder
Must compliment the writer. Such a shame to have this to happen when all they wanted was to live a normal life. Yes, they are precious. Thanks for sharing. I find no fault.
reply by the author on 14-Oct-2018
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Must compliment the writer. Such a shame to have this to happen when all they wanted was to live a normal life. Yes, they are precious. Thanks for sharing. I find no fault.
Comment Written 13-Oct-2018
reply by the author on 14-Oct-2018
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Thanks, Ben, I?m sure your Choctaw people have suffered as well and probably still do, we need change.
Carol
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u might like my latest novel. Christian Faith Publishing released it to the public all book stores and e-book have it. Silent Hand Of God.
Comment from Phyllis Stewart
They are all US citizens and should be due the protection of our government. Perhaps it's in their culture not to speak out, as it is for Muslim women in the mid-east. The odd thing is that Muslim women accept rule by men, to the point where they can be beaten daily, okayed by the Islamic religion. The same may be true of Native Americans. I don't know, but surely there is a good reason they don't speak up and go to the police.
reply by the author on 20-Oct-2018
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They are all US citizens and should be due the protection of our government. Perhaps it's in their culture not to speak out, as it is for Muslim women in the mid-east. The odd thing is that Muslim women accept rule by men, to the point where they can be beaten daily, okayed by the Islamic religion. The same may be true of Native Americans. I don't know, but surely there is a good reason they don't speak up and go to the police.
Comment Written 13-Oct-2018
reply by the author on 20-Oct-2018
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Hi Phyllis,
the problem is the jurisdiction of the Tribal police differs from that of the rest of the country and things fall through the cracks somehow. I don't think the custom is the same as in Islam, although I don't know for sure.
Thanks for this read and review :))
Carol
Comment from Mrs. KT
Hello Friend,
Once again I am "blown away" by the importance and intensity of your well-executed free verse. There is so much power in your words - covering an issue that has been silent for far too long. Here in northern Michigan, I worked with the Band of the Chippewa and Ottawa Indians. For years, they were denigrated - invisible. That of which you write happened to many of their women. Today, the Band is thriving, recognized, and their voices are not invisible. I would like to think that I helped in part...
Thank you for sharing!
diane
reply by the author on 20-Oct-2018
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Hello Friend,
Once again I am "blown away" by the importance and intensity of your well-executed free verse. There is so much power in your words - covering an issue that has been silent for far too long. Here in northern Michigan, I worked with the Band of the Chippewa and Ottawa Indians. For years, they were denigrated - invisible. That of which you write happened to many of their women. Today, the Band is thriving, recognized, and their voices are not invisible. I would like to think that I helped in part...
Thank you for sharing!
diane
Comment Written 12-Oct-2018
reply by the author on 20-Oct-2018
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How amazing that you worked with those tribes and made a difference - that is wonderful and I am envious that you were able to do that. I think there is still work today on the reservations in Montana, and other places...
Carol
Comment from RodG
This is a lovely tribute to those missing native women of Montana, Carol. I especially like how you use words like Scrabble cubes to describe them in stanza three. Rod
reply by the author on 14-Oct-2018
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This is a lovely tribute to those missing native women of Montana, Carol. I especially like how you use words like Scrabble cubes to describe them in stanza three. Rod
Comment Written 12-Oct-2018
reply by the author on 14-Oct-2018
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Thanks Rod, it makes me sad the more I learned about the suffering of the native people. It?s not just in Montana.
Carol
Comment from Y. M. Roger
Wow -- now that is a very poignant write that just screams to every female reader and, hopefully, to many men. Your 'personalization' of the matter with the use of letters on a map and the subsequent internalization of each of them - letters mean lives - is well done in your unique style. I cannot imagine anyone reading this being able to walk away without your words being hidden somewhere such that, even when they least expect them, they will bubble back up to the surface as a reminder of these women.....a beautiful piece, Carol - thank you so much for your heart that makes it possible! :) :) Yvette :)
reply by the author on 20-Oct-2018
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Wow -- now that is a very poignant write that just screams to every female reader and, hopefully, to many men. Your 'personalization' of the matter with the use of letters on a map and the subsequent internalization of each of them - letters mean lives - is well done in your unique style. I cannot imagine anyone reading this being able to walk away without your words being hidden somewhere such that, even when they least expect them, they will bubble back up to the surface as a reminder of these women.....a beautiful piece, Carol - thank you so much for your heart that makes it possible! :) :) Yvette :)
Comment Written 12-Oct-2018
reply by the author on 20-Oct-2018
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I saw a video where the letters were accumulating on the map and I thought, what if the letters were spelling out words that we need to hear? I think there is a powerful message in that image for all of us - I hope there is a way to enact change on the reservations, it is sorely needed.
Carol
Comment from Dorothy Farrell
Another lovely free verse Carol (at which you excel). Is Montana, I wonder, very different from many other places - I don't know. Violence is becoming a problem the world over. You have written a beautiful, humane verse about all these nameless women and it is a privilege to read. Well done and keep on writing. Love Dorothy x
reply by the author on 14-Oct-2018
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Another lovely free verse Carol (at which you excel). Is Montana, I wonder, very different from many other places - I don't know. Violence is becoming a problem the world over. You have written a beautiful, humane verse about all these nameless women and it is a privilege to read. Well done and keep on writing. Love Dorothy x
Comment Written 12-Oct-2018
reply by the author on 14-Oct-2018
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I think that this problem exists for many native people around the world, and any people who are disadvantaged. I think that this problem exists for many native people around the world, and any people who are disadvantaged, such as the very poor and refugees. In the United States, the native American women have a much higher percentage of violence than any other race. Thank you, as always, for reading my work,
Carol
Comment from Mark Valentine
Being a voice for the voiceless - one of the most noble uses of poetry. Letters on a map is a particularly creative and original way to think about that. I don't know anything about how tribal governments operate, but your writings make me think of the Jim Crow south where the people responsible for overseeing the law weren't all that interested in doing that job when the victims weren't important to them.
The Catholic Church speaks of the"inviolable dignity of every human life" (I know it's like the Declaration of Independence including the line "we hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal" - we don't necessarily live that out, but - if you widen the meaning of "men" - it; a good thought). I digress - the point is your line "She is precious" cut to the heart of the matter for me - great poem.
reply by the author on 20-Oct-2018
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Being a voice for the voiceless - one of the most noble uses of poetry. Letters on a map is a particularly creative and original way to think about that. I don't know anything about how tribal governments operate, but your writings make me think of the Jim Crow south where the people responsible for overseeing the law weren't all that interested in doing that job when the victims weren't important to them.
The Catholic Church speaks of the"inviolable dignity of every human life" (I know it's like the Declaration of Independence including the line "we hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal" - we don't necessarily live that out, but - if you widen the meaning of "men" - it; a good thought). I digress - the point is your line "She is precious" cut to the heart of the matter for me - great poem.
Comment Written 12-Oct-2018
reply by the author on 20-Oct-2018
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Hi Mark,
I borrowed the idea from a video that showed all the letters accumulating and I thought, what if the letters started to spell out an important message? I think your reference to the Jim Crow South is particularly apt. The lawmakers just aren't that concerned. It is the rest of us who must be.
Thanks so much for this great review :))
Carol