Apathy Kills

I did this poem with my 4E3...and thought that this would be one way to really get a response from the kids. I have done the theme of hunger with some of my previous kids, and know that no one would be totally immune to what they would see. So with the visuals from Youtube, and pictures from Google Web, I got the students to reflect by the message driven in the poem.



How to Watch a Child Die


Avert your gaze from his eyes,
even if they plead for you to be drawn to their depths.
Instead focus on his sallow complexion
the sun crawling on his aged skin,
the colour of the well-trodden carpet
in your living room;
the spot where you son once threw his football boots
and you missed the bleaching
for the past few years.


Do not try to guess his age
or say, he is older than he looks
as you study his brittle bones, too-large head
and the empty basket of his ribcage


Think instead of the sound they may make
when his body is thrown into a ditch;
the sound of rain whipping through branches,
the cracking of a creek before thaw
or your antique vase
crashing into smithereens
from its place on the mantelpiece.


Turn away from the blank faces of your own children
and make no associations.
Pretend you do not notice
how your teenager leaves her food
uneaten on her plate. (Convince yourself you are
not an escapist) After all,
this skeletal child is merely
a marionette in a macabre fairytale.


Now, ignore the queasy feeling in your stomach
as you get up to dish out the dessert.
Resolve to write to the authorities
to complain for showing such
disturbing footage during dinner.


Be blind to the broken birds of the child’s
hands as he reach out pleading to be held,
the rolling whites of his eyes, the bruised animals
of his lips, parting as he takes his last…


Turn off the television set


Children should not know that
(in some very remote parts of the world)
they may die before their mothers.


By Amanda Chong,16
from Singapore who won the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2005, which is held Britain, is one of 15 winners and the only one from Asia to win this award.

A teen...who captures the idea of how wasteful and apathetic our society can be.

I salute you...for reminding me.