Sarah is a French student who lives in Vienna who used to write a lot but hasn't found time for her passion the past months. Due to the anti-Coronavirus measures, she has suddenly found time to resume writing again. The result is a poem in which she dreams of a profoundly changed world, where feminist values take precedence over neoliberal ones.
I went out for food shopping on Friday morning, before the Austrian government announced strict restrictions on our movements and our daily lives in order to stop the spreading of the virus.
I had never seen anything like this. It was 8:45am and the supermarket was full of people emptying the shelves and accumulating as many things as possible, leaving nothing for others. I was really disgusted to see such selfish and unhealthy behaviour, and to see that our capitalist system flows in our blood. It is anchored in our deepest veins, even in situations when we should be more united than never.
'I started writing again to dream of a better world, but above all of a profoundly changed world, where feminist values must take precedence over neoliberal ones'
Then, I had suddenly so much free time ahead due to the quarantine restrictions, so I started transforming this rage into poems. I am used to writing a lot, but I didn't have much time do to it in the past few months. I started writing again to dream of a better world, but above all of a profoundly changed world, where feminist values must take precedence over neoliberal ones.
[Poem below image]
Photo by Sarah Gamrani
My original poem in French
ne pouvons-nous pas
nous montrer
un peu plus d’amour,
de solidarité,
d’empathie?
dire à notre voisin
qu’il peut compter sur nous
s’il en a besoin
que même si demain est incertain,
cela le sera ensemble
que si les plus vulnérables sont dans le besoin,
on leur donnera,
ensemble.
je suis féministe car
je veux commencer à vivre dans un monde
où l’on se montre
notre amour,
notre solidarité,
notre empathie,
où l’oppression
et l’accumulation,
ne soient plus des réactions primaires
où l’on prenne autant soin
des inconnus
que de nos êtres chers.
The English version of the poem, as translated by the author
can't we show each other
a little more love,
solidarity
and empathy?
tell our neighbor
that he can count on us
if he needs it
even if tomorrow is uncertain,
it will be together
that if the most vulnerable are in need,
we will give them,
together.
I am a feminist because
I want to start living in a world
where we show each other
our love,
our solidarity,
our empathy,
where oppression
and accumulation
no longer are primary reaction,
where we take as much care
of strangers
as our loved ones.
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