Claire

My dearest Penelope

by Claire McGuinness

do you ever wonder what humans think about

or why we are hated

or put down

or beaten till we are as slow as a turtle

do you ever think about Slavery

slavery: slav·er·y

/ˈslāv(ə)rē/

noun

noun: slavery

1. the state of being a slave.

2. a condition compared to that of a slave in respect of exhausting labor or restricted freedom.

when you fall asleep at night do you ever wonder who was Enslaved

i can answer about 1/10.7 million of that question

Theophilus Niger was one of those Enslaved People

i think about

one that survived the never ending journey of Enslavement

across the big black ocean

i wonder what his favorite color was

or what he cared the most about in his life

or if he ever said “my dearest Penelope”

Claire's Poet's Statement

I really worked hard to make my poem, “My dearest Penelope”, stand out. You may have noticed that I do not capitalize any other words other than, “Enslaved”, “Enslaved people”, “Slavery” , “Enslavement” , and “Penelopy”, “Theophilus Niger” because these words are the most important in this poem. Noticing the capitalized words in the poem shows that these words structure and make this poem come together. I chose to add no punctuation to this poem other than quotation marks because I feel it can distract the reader from the capitalized and non-capitalized words and adds to the feeling of the poem to make it come across stronger. I hope you enjoy “My Dearest Penelope” as I worked very hard to make the poem touch your heart.