2018-05-12 - 9:56 p.m.

I have been reading poets
and this one strikes me as so Southern

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/90965/jim-limber-the-adopted-mulatto-son-of-jefferson-davis-was-another-child-first

what strikes me is the question

Does the poet WANT me to be disturbed

by the reality that
this boy

was taken from his mother?

Maybe it is part of the impact of his poems

the unarticulated question

hinted at

as when reading his brilliant poems

This: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/144608/jefferson-davis-the-adoptive-father-of-the-mulatto-jim-limber-dreams-he-is-crowned-king-of-the-confederacy

and the other about jim limber

It makes me seek to know who Jim Limber is

and the poem of the boy called Jim now wearing Joe's clothes, read after reading the almost rural legand (Southern version of urban myth),

is heartwrenching in that omission

of the question

Who was the boy

BEFORE he was taken from his family, presuming the guardian might have been one...
or might have been his mother...

and the question of brutality of the beating

was it so

and was this act one of compassion

of saving this boy now called Jim

or was it an act of tearing a child from his imperfect mother/or guardian who was mothering in the norms of the time for her African American mother or careprovider/ guardian.

It just strikes me that from my experience with friends and also some of what I ready, physical discipline may in fact be a cultural norm in African American communities and families more so that European decent families in North America.
North America is very puritanical and supressive of all emotion, both good or bad, without a comfort of public displays of emotion!

My friend was recently telling me how her friend who happens to be African, (distinct from African American) disciplines her child with physical discipline- a quick smack, and her kids actually seem to be all doing quite well. She said one was sassy at one point and made a call to social services to complain about her mother. CPS showed up and the mother told the CPS person that she intended to continue to teach and train and discipline her children as she saw fit, but if they would not support her doing so she would be happy to tell her daughter to pack her bags and just leave with them now. She said it was to be very clear to her daughter that if she lives under her roof she is to follow her rules.

My friend said the CPS person responded "Oh NO we just are here to talk to you!"

I am VERY CLEAR I do not support abuse. There is a clear distinction I believe between the parent who is spanking in discipline and situations of abuse. It is not hard to tell when a parent is going overboard in my opinion;

HOWEVER

all that being said-

EVEN If a parent were abusive- if it is the biological parent

it seems so much more compassionate to a child

and MUCH HEALTHIER for a child in the long run

to try to offer that parent some support so that a young child is not taken away from their
parent

taken away from their family

ORPHANED at a young age unnecessarily.

SO the poem makes me want to know the story behind the taking of JIM from his family into that of Jefferson Davis.

The poem made me quickly do some research and react with shock at the horrific reality that perhaps this child was taken due to a cultural difference in parenting.

Perhaps it WAS abuse! Perhaps it was a beating...

But perhaps there was really just a judgement by some who only had the perspective of their own cultural norms ,from their own white backgrounds,

that the situation this boy was in was unfit
unsafe
and dangerous for him

And Possibly perhaps that was not a truth at all; but moreso a fear.

Perhaps that fear was unfounded?

It is impossible to know.

But I found the poem, just so very Southern

YES very Southern

In the questions that were not overly raised but merely implied.

�

�