Welcome to WNIJ's Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poets from northern Illinois. This week's poem is by Cheryl Sheinman.
Sheinman is a teacher and dialogue facilitator. Being a graduate of Jungian and archetypal psychology, she writes about bringing consciousness to our social landscape via pieces on voice, justice, trauma, death and dying, gun violence and authentic dialogue.
She enjoys tennis, swimming, snow skiing, art, literature, design and fashion. Sheinman said she appreciates nature and the flora and fauna of the Forest City. A recent transplant from Miami, Florida to Rockford, she survived the Illinois winter of 2019, learning to move like a penguin on the ice!
Her poem "Indictment – Refugee Eyes" was inspired by a 1984 National Geographic acclaimed cover photo of an Afghan refugee woman.
Her wide eyes stare back at me
Terrified, determined, in rage
A glimmering gorgeous green
The color of emeralds, excavated
Dug up from the mines of horror.
A small stone in the center
Black pupils piercing my own
Telling me I’m guilty
I’m wrong, I did nothing
To salve her pain
And that of her sisters.
Her eyes know something
Her mouth shut
Unspeakable is about to
Or has happened
Her life hangs
on a gossamer thread.
The soft burnt
Rust fabric of her
Headscarf. The tan suede of her young skin.
The midpoint of her upper
Lip a perfect V
All frame the story
In her fierce emerald eyes.
She’s been raped, resettled
She’s on the run
Her body shamed, disappeared
No longer hers.
Anyone reflected in her angry eyes
Is culpable, collusive
Guilty of silence.
She’s the refugee
In all of us
women.
- Yvonne Boose is a current corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. It's a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms like WNIJ. You can learn more about Report for America at wnij.org.