Troublemaker
(Ever so slightly to the tune of "Little Boxes")
When we want
What they’ve got
And we ask for it
In the right ways
And the logic’s there
And the signatures
And they still tell us NO
Then we don’t stop
And we’re not quiet
And we make them
Pay attention now
To the voices
Of the people
Who pursue what they’re due.
©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017
"I had first come to the attention of the principal’s office with a premature women’s liberation movement on the school grounds. At noon, the boys could leave the grounds to play around on the streets and to get hot dogs, hamburgers, coffee, and pop at the little store across the street. I circulated a petition that the girls be allowed out of the yard at noon also. The answer was no. It wasn’t proper for girls to be on the street. [The girls then asked that the boys be restricted, and were told] if the school tried to restrict the boys they’d just climb the fence. Probably in the same situation now, the girls would climb the fence. Then, nothing happened except that quiet, shy me was fingered as a troublemaker."
"Little Boxes" may be my first time seeing someone else's view that made me uncomfortable, a good thing! Love "Then we don’t stop/And we’re not quiet."
ReplyDeleteMalvina Reynolds wrote "Little Boxes"! (It will show up later this month, highlighted on its own, but it's a bit of an earworm for me, as you might imagine!)
DeleteYes,Yes! to
ReplyDelete"the people
Who pursue what they’re due."
Little Boxes is a favorite sonf of mine, and if I ever get my banjo restrung I'm going to pluck it out again. Love your poem Mary Lee, and that you are sharing so much of this great woman!
So much fun realizing that I knew something of Malvina without knowing it. I hope you're enjoying this project as much as we are!
ReplyDelete