The Steerage
(by David Citino) Steerage: The part of a passenger ship reserved for those traveling at the cheapest rate. A photograph can show us, in color or in black and white, what's wrong, what's right. Look with me inside this ship. We see, through the lens, a crowd of families. It all looks loud, though a photograph makes noise only in our heads. Lives are changing. Husbands, wives and babies are sailing toward us, who inhabit the future they desire, free from poverty's dirty fire. They sail in steerage, a mode of going from dark to days of light, to develop all the ways of being themselves. The mast, they hope, will grow into a leafy tree and whisper, "Now you're free." ----> What does the poet mean by the phrase "going from dark to days/of light"? |