Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The cotton picker





hot sun on face
aching and sore fingers  
with every cotton flower picked
she daydreams of nice house and 
table laden with food and cool wine 
maybe buy a nice dress and shoes to dance
at her cousin's wedding next harvest time. 


wiping sweat on face,
she carries sack of cotton at the end of day.
walking back to her rented room of
small bed, a picture frame of her family 
brings a smile to her lips and sparkle on eyes.  
crossing hands in prayer, she sleeps 
on a pillow cotton full of dreams.  





Posted for Poetry Jam:  Daydream Believers
and Theme Thursday:  Inspiring Things -  My hope for all migrant workers is for them to come home and be with their loved ones.   


Picture credit:    http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/latinos/cottonpicker-1936.jpg

21 comments:

  1. That is such hard work too. Must be so painful on the fingers after a while. I only went strawberry picking once, that was choice, but an hour was plenty enough of picking anything for me.
    This is lovely writing Grace.

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  2. hmmm.... isn't she a metaphor of us all? isn't this the fuel of our dreams?
    love the pic
    rick

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  3. Loved this.....will last in mind.....

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  4. Pray they be able to achieve their aspirations. They have little wants even then it may be that far off. Some became successful entrepreneurs though. We never know! Nice write Heaven!

    Hank

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  5. I think you captured the feelings of this dear girl's soul very well. It was a sad poem, yet there were bits of hope woven within the lines as well.

    Great poem!

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  6. it sounds like she works hard...so i have hope for her because dreams do take that...it is hard to break out of that rather meager existence...i have hope for her though...smiles...

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  7. Hard work can take us far, just a shame some have to work so hard for so little sometimes I guess.

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  8. May her daydreams turn into reality! She has a hard life.

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  9. oh, in my country we actually have a famous poem on cotton pickers. Written by one of our famous poets. Very touching.

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    1. You must give me the link to the poem one day ~ Thanks Dez ~

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  10. A lovely poem that makes us see the humanity of the cotton picker!
    Unfortunately, she is not just a metaphor or a model for us to take delight in simple things, to want less, to know that no life is empty of a spark. I like your comment: "My hope for all migrant workers is for them to come home and be with their loved ones." And I would add: with a means of earning a living nearer to home!

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  11. We don't seem to realize or appreciate how well we have it these days.

    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com

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  12. Hi Grace,

    This was a great poem to share with us. Can you imagine what it would be like if we had to go out every week and pick our own food? I think things would change in the life of this young girl and we would gladly pay her more money to pick our food. Maybe someday she would be able to live closer to her family and her dreams would come true. Hopefully for all migrant workers this will someday happen.

    Thanks for sharing this poem with us for this weeks Theme Thursday.

    God bless.

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  13. Yikes, this is the real, true, gritty stuff we don't see enough of these days. Congrats.

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  14. Beautifully captured the dreams of a cotton picker. Amazing potrayal of hardship mixed with optimism making it beautiful poem

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  15. Amazing....Grace...I love what you did with that last line...SO affecting! Wow.

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  16. I love the way you told her story, giving her a sense of dignity that others would not. And I have to agree, that last line is just perfect. Thanks for sharing this with us at Poetry Jam this week.

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  17. Your words fit the photo image so well. She must have a lot of beautiful dreams.

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