Read these powerful poems about ‘Some people…’

Some people know what it’s like to be called a fat slut

Marché Arends

Some people know what it’s like to be called a fat slut while walking home from school.
To be moo’d at.
To be trolled on the internet.
To hear the whispers; to catch the stares.
To be prodded and poked.
To be fetishized by a society that sees them as an object.
To be told there is nothing in their size.
To starve themselves to fit an unattainable version of beauty.
To hate the mirror because it holds the truth.
To eat in secret.
To hide the chocolate wrappers.
To be told they’d be so beautiful if only…
To have their worth tied to the size of their belly, legs, arms, thighs.
Some people know what it’s like not to be seen.
To be lesser than.
To be second best.
To be below average.

And some people don’t.

Some people know what it’s like to wait for the bus in the rain
Asithandile Tyulu

Some people know what it’s like to wait for the bus in the rain
To not be able to skip a day of work to go to a parent-teacher meeting
To feel undeserving of their child’s love because of their bank account
To search for happiness in a bottle only to drown and find themselves at the bottom
To cry till their tears dry
To smoother themselves with a pillow trying not to make a sound
To dance to the shameful sound of poverty
To become what they despised
To watch the ones they love marry the bride of all houses – death
To watch their friends turn to crack as their heart cracks and they remember the mirror that they crack,
maybe now it’s their seven years of bad luck
Some people know what it’s like to be overlooked
To be judged
To crushed
To be trashed

Some people don’t

Some people know what it is like to be labelled a whore
Tamica Mopp

Some people know what it is like to be labelled a whore
to be told to be quiet cause it doesn’t matter anymore
to be silenced despite the pain
to forgive because what more is there to gain?
to be ignored at the back of the line
to be caught in the heart of crime
to be told to wear less revealing clothing
to be told to smile, even when you are barely coping
to talk with your head down in shame of an incident that occurred at 19
to talk with your friends who abandoned you when you thought they were on your team
to be depressed
to be anxious
to not find any time to rest
to be in a state of blankness
(sorry, I couldn’t get up this morning, I did not want to live)
to be in a dream that’s better than your reality
(sorry I forgot to write today I’m still stuck in my old mentality)
to be stuck between saying yes to the right thing or letting go of an unwanted ring
to be afraid to love again because abuse is just so subtle
to be able to sing in the midst of chaos
to lie to your mother about your mental stability
to hate being alone even if it brings tranquillity

and other people don’t.

Tamica Mopp

Activity

Try writing your own poem like this. What do you experience that you don’t think people understand? It can be about living in a difficult family, or being poor, or having experienced a death in your family.

Start off with ‘Some people know’
Then make your lists from your own experience, using ‘to’

To be called
To be told
To wish that
To never
To always
To be afraid

Keep these images concrete and real and specific – and then, only at the end, you can use more general descriptions like ‘to be below average, to be judged’ etc.

End off your poem with something powerful to contrast what has been said in the above stanza. In the example poems the writers have used, “and some people don’t” as their way of driving their point forward. You can use this too, if you like, or something else you can think of.

Over to you!

(This fantastic poetry structure is taken from Kate Clanchy’s book – How to grow your own poem, published by Picador, 2020)