Entry #9(1st part) Writing Project:Refugees (Poems)

We Refugees - by Benjamin Zephaniah.

 In this poem, the author expresses that everybody is likely to become a refugee at any time, no matter your age or your skin colour, it is only a question of luck. At first, the author describes his personal experience of being a refugee but then uses the pronoun “We”, involving the reader as well in this situation. This idea is reinforced in the verse “We can all be refugees”. He makes emphasis on how easily it is to be forced to leave your own country and how unfair society can be towards anyone; as described in the verses: “Where they hate my shade of skin/ They don’t like the way I pray/ And they ban free poetry”. Moreover, the description of the beautiful place expressed in the first verse of the stanzas contradicts the following verses in which the opposite is shown: “I come from a musical place/ Where they shoot me for my song”. This depicts the idea of how easily everything can change. As Zephaniah states “Sometimes it only takes a day/ Sometimes it only takes a handshake/ Or a paper that is signed”, we are all vulnerable and nobody is safe; it is all a question of luck.

Refugees - by Brian Bilston

Brian Bilston introduces two very opposite ideas of how we, as a society, have different points of view on the same matter. During the first reading, from top to bottom as the traditional one, the author expresses such a negative point of view that it is annoying. He refers to refugees as criminals “With bombs up their sleeves / Cut-throats and thieves”.  The author arises in the reader the idea that refugees should not be welcome and that they should be kept out. However, during the second reading, starting from the last stanza and reading backwards to the first one, a completely different story is told. The author’s attitude towards refugees seems to change. It is expressed a feeling of empathy and kindness towards refugees. The author challenges the reader to take part on this subject “It is not okay to say/ Build a wall to keep them out / Instead let us / Share our countries / Share our food”. These two ideas stated in the poem makes the reader reflect upon this matter and whether to choose one side or the other.