Curls And Their Place In Society Poem by Gayathri Seetharam

Curls and their place in society
-Gayathri B. Seetharam
I saw PM Justin Trudeau being engaged in conversation
On CBC's The National and couldn't but help be beset by the thought
That like me, his natural curls have been tamed into a smooth straight line
And unless he uses a curl defining mousse like I did last evening, it is going to
Go straight in an unimaginative line but please do remember that the straight line is the shortest distance between two points;

Who needs imagination, I imagine my older siblings saying when
Taking care of business is defined by crisp conciseness and clear cut definition in life
And defending myself, I would say that careful rumination needs imagination
That is, putting oneself in the other person's shoes;

And you, my readers on Facebook, will swear that I did
For I spoke about against not respecting the rights of refugees
And acts which were human rights violations
And I was actually in a fix for political leaders whom I trusted in to have an answer
Were not coming to my aid
And I was in the lurch
When out of the swirling mist and deep fog
There came the helpful answer from charitable organizations;

To name them, they were UNICEF Canada, Save the Children Canada,
World Vision Canada, Doctors Without Borders, UNHCR in Canada, Germany and India
And the sole one to which I did not need to donate, Office of the High Commission for Human Rights,
And although I am poorer by $500, I am richer for the experience taught me
That there are other factors to consider;

Of course, this is the season to be giving and sharing
But I was lost in grief for I thought that help was not coming to me
And the extremities in cold and ill effects suffered from the supposedly, tear gas spraying,
Not to mention hunger and thirst
By the victims was not pleasant, to say the least,
My inner voice was telling me;

And I pleaded with the leaders of Canada, Germany, India and USA,
To have mercy on these people
For there is a past history of welcoming outsiders and newcomers
But every country has a finite amount of resources
And the undefined laws of mankind or people"kind" dictate
That these be put aside for the friends, romans and countrymen;

Thinking that I was mainly bogged down by an email problem
I presented this case which had become my passionate mission to preserve and protect
This set of human lives to both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
For word on the street is that they decide how much a country should declare as its own wealth;

Having written an economics paper which stems from the sole academic background of
Being successfully a student of graduate engineering school which whips you into shape for all kinds of thinking
I must ruefully say that I had not considered the additional aspect of having refugees and other people
Who would be an extra set of mouths to feed, clothe and shelter for the countries in question
And this, dear readers, is the reason I did not make an A plus through my long list of graduate courses;

I began my poem with curls and curls rhyme with purls
And you cannot knit a warm sweater without knits and purls
But a knit goes from the outside to the inside
While a purl goes from the inside to the outside
Or am I getting it topsy turvy
I will never know for I have only bought sweaters
Although I have crocheted quite a bit and knitted a design
On a sweater with folksy wool.