Nine Eleven 2007 -
Remembering Tillie Olsen - Date of a celebration of her life and work hosted by the Feminist Press in New York after she died a few days short of her 95th Birthday
You gave out flyers on the streets
The Universal Declaration
Of Human Rights
Your credo
Your work made art out of our lives
YONNONDIO
Broke the silence
You raged at all Official lies
Pretend Parental Guidance
‘How to survive a nuclear attack’
No child would walk home after that!
Your working class attire placed you - outside the pack
What could you wear - among the capped and gowned?
You were the only one
Confronting pompous polymath - John Kenneth Galbraith
Who told a seminar, Lord of the Flies confirms
human cruelty is innate
You’re wrong Sir,
Young kids are caring, that’s their natural state
He glowered but you were resolute
Your manuscript was in the trash
Consigned by learned schmucks
‘Who wants to read about a woman ironing?’
Retrieved, by chance, and published to acclaim -
You said, No writer’s work should have to trust to luck
The tragedy of everyday existence, Your spur to write and rage and agitate
When you felt dementia loom, you struggled to make sense
A slip of paper later turned up in the mail
A long howl to your dead parents
Help! Please come and find me, I’m in jail
Still you clung to your identity
Telling others losing memory
Never forget You’re a human being, that’s the truth
Your daughter placed your books upon your knee
And held you in her arms tenderly
She sang the songs you taught her in her youth
We shall overcome, I dreamt I saw Joe Hill last night
Recited Whitman Our beloved Dead
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