Taken

I have watched her a long time

And now she seems mature and prime.
At dawn, I decided to have her and struck,
Grabbing and placing her in the back of my truck.
I thanked the dealer for the sale
And then drove out into the strong gale.
Tears streamed from her eyes like a broken faucet
Despite my vocal instructions to stop it.
Finally the vehicle pulled into the house
I could not wait to show the puppy to my spouse.

                Recently, as a leading member of a planning committee, I helped organize a forum at the Cleveland City Club about human trafficking.  Many people know of this crime’s propagation across the globe, especially in third-world countries.  However, many individuals do not know of its domestic pervasiveness.  Currently, the city of Toledo, Ohio serves as the premier hubbub of human trafficking, or “modern slavery,” in the United States.  In my poem, I wanted to throw the reader off guard and contemplate this harsh topic before they reached the poem’s conclusion.  I utilized words like “dealer” and “sale” to construct a harsh and sympathetic tone (4, 2).  The description of buying a potential human being arouses extreme discomfort from persons living in relative security.  Additionally, I decided to build a somber mood by comparing the tears of the puppy to a “broken faucet” (7).  The image of a busted faucet conjures to mind a seemingly endless streaming of tears, which tugs at the heartstrings of the reader and pushes the implication of future pain or torture.  Most of all, the opening line of the poem, “I have watched her a long time,” begins the story with a sense of horror (1).  The ominous tone of “watched her” has a disturbing connotation and portrays the speaker as a stalker.  Human trafficking can arise in nearly any environment and flourishes on the ignorance of the uninvolved.   Hopefully, my uncomfortable poem spurs the reader to do some research on their own.  Humans need a medium like film, journalism, or poetry to espouse the empathy required to take action.