Gwendolyn Brooks Reflection #1

"the mother" by Gwendolyn Brooks (pp. 4-5 in book)

    Abortions will not let you forget. 

    You remember the children you got that you did not get

    I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim
    killed children.

    If I stole your births and your names,

   Your straight baby tears and your games,

   Your stilted or lovely loves, your tumults, your marriages, aches,
   and your deaths,

   If I poisoned the beginnings of your breaths,

   Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate.

   Though why should I whine,

   Whine that the crime was other than mine? - 

   Since anyhow you are dead. 

   Or rather, or instead,

   You were never made.

  You were born, you had body, you died.

  It is just that you never giggled or planned or cried. ("the mother" 1-2, 18-28, 31-32)

With this poem, I typed out the lines that really struck a cord with me.  In general, this poem is an emotional poem for me to read. I have not had experience with having children of my own. However, I have been around young children and it breaks my heart to think that with something like abortion, they do not get the opportunity to live life.  In this poem, Brooks displays a tone that is regretful.  She demonstrates a regretful tone when she states, "Though why should I whine, / Whine that the crime was other than mine?" (26-27). She is trying to show the internal struggles of mothers who have gone through abortions. Also, it seems like in a way she is criticizing these mothers and saying that they don't have a right to cry because they are the ones that have committed such a terrible crime.  Also, Brooks shows the uncertainty and struggle of these mothers by using paradox. One example of a paradox is when she says, "You remember the child you got that you did not get." I thought this was a really creative way to describe that these mothers have the child growing inside of them but in the end they don't have them. In addition, she uses parallel structure with repeating words such as "you" and "your." In my opinion, I think she does this to reiterate the tragedy of killing an innocent life. Also, I was thinking of this repetition of "you" and "your" on a larger scale in that a tragedy like this could happen to anyone. What I mean is that anyone's life could be taken away before it really begins.  In a way, I feel like Brooks is providing a voice for the voiceless especially when she states, "I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim / killed children." (18-19). She is saying that although these children are not physically alive, their memory and voice will continue to live on. Finally, I was thinking about how Brooks is like Rukeyser in that they both give voice to the voiceless through their poetry.