The Voices Project
Follow us
  • POETRY LIBRARY
  • ABOUT
  • SUBMIT
  • RESOURCES

Ironic Iconic Liberty~ By Kim Drew Wright

7/8/2013

1 Comment

 
1886 my torch was lit - too dim
to enlighten the world,
151 feet below men fear a liberty crush,
while the few courageous enough to be offended
charter a distant view of freedom
over undulating waves of top hats,

hold on tight against the sway and speak of equal rights,
those proclaimed free in 1863 dare say,
“shove [me] the Bartholdi statue, torch and all, into the ocean until…” (1)

I stand for freedom? I covet freedom.
It burns a red gold, like my new forged skin.
My tabula ansata evokes legal rights,
only holds a date, no written law to secure my fate
– although there is room.

There was fire before me. Verrazano, Walloons,
1712 slaves set Maiden Lane ablaze,
1741 Burton conspiracy, 13 burn at stake,
1848 – Declarations of Sentiments –
72 years before the right to count, lifetimes.
I have seen my city burn. My people burn.

Shirtwaist sweatshop, Asch Building, 23-29 Washington Place
locked doors to prevent unauthorized breaks,
146 perish, 129 women aged 14 to 42
Providenza Panno, Rosaria Maltese, 9 hour days $7 a week,
“…girl after girl…ablaze, plunged like a living torch to the street,” (2)
2 years later Lucy Burns took her turn
to stoke the slow embers of right versus wrong,
hand of the law is often strong against the weak.

1972 congress passed ERA (drafted 1923 by Alice Paul)
Equality of rights under the law.
She died in 1977. It died in 1982
smoldering through failed ratification.

I’m the mother of exiles,
liberty enlightening the world,
but I am too large for men – immense in scale.
I was made in pieces, 200 crates. Agonizing unveil.
My arm was first, face second, the rest at an unsettled pace.
Exposition, fair, blood, sweat and wail, helped cast me to my place.
Suffrage,
suffering,
rage, silence,
or lie about truth,
hope, engage,
ticker tape parade,
Edouard Rene de Laboulaye,
copper skin beaten repoussé,
curtain wall flounced over iron truss bones.
400,000 more women than men in New York City alone.
108 mayors:
1 black.
women none.


1 The Cleveland Gazette
2 Louis Waldman



Author Bio:
Kim graduated from the School of Journalism at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. Her career in advertising has encompassed the positions of media buyer, account representative, and brand manager. She currently resides in Richmond, Virginia. She is a member of James River Writers and the Poetry Society of Virginia. Three young children, two crazy Westies, and one husband in retail, occupy her time when she is not writing short stories or working on a novel. Her poetry captures the madness and keeps her sane.

Two of her poems will be published in the July and August issues of Ascent Aspirations and a short story in the next issue of Circa, a journal of historical fiction.

1 Comment
Kim Drew Wright
7/8/2013 06:14:24 am

I wrote this piece in response to a man in my poetry class that felt very strongly that the women's movement had been a bad thing and the teacher's prompt to write from an historical figure's perspective. Of course, the poem is from the viewpoint of the Statue of Liberty and some of the injustices she has seen. Although, I do feel we have come a long way toward freedom in many aspects since her construction.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Poet Search

    by last name

    Archives

    January 2023
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012

    RSS Feed

Contact The Voices Project: editors@thevoicesproject.org