The prompt at dVerse Poets Pub today is to write a poem in common meter, but to use some of the tricks that Emily Dickenson used to make common meter a little more interesting. I love an opportunity to sort of break the rules of form, but only a little.
The topic of this poem is one that I’ve been thinking about for a while, and I decided this challenge was the time to trot it out.
Not Just a Statistic
Statistics are eye-opening
But overwhelming—sad
Three thousand babies killed each day
Yet women’s rights can’t cede
Statistics belie tragedy
Each single data point
A mother—and a single child
Ever a mournful plaint
Behind each dreaded statistic
Individual lives
Each one suffering painfully
Waiting to know God loves
Let’s look beyond the statistics
Open our eye as well
To all the hurt souls who need us
Provide hope as they wail