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29 Jun 04 - 11:35 AM (#1216288) Subject: BS: Touch From: freda underhill Touch by Hugh Lewin When I get out I'm going to ask someone to touch me very gently please and slowly, touch me I want to learn again how life feels. I've not been touched for seven years for seven years I've been untouched out of touch and I've learnt to know now the meaning of untouchable. Untouched -- not quite I can count the things that have touched me One: fists At the beginning fierce mad fists beating, beating till I remember screaming Don't touch me please don't touch me. Two: paws The first four years of paws every day patting paws, searching -- arms up, shoes off legs apart -- prodding paws, systematic heavy, indifferent probing away all privacy. I don't want fists and paws I want to want to be touched again I want to say when I get out Here I am please touch me. Hugh Lewin was imprisoned for seven years in Pretoria Central Jail in The 1970s. He said of his prison experiences: "It was only as a prisoner – as a bandit in a South African jail -- that I could begin to realise what life is like for most South Africans. I am white. I had to go inside to know what it's like to be black." In the 1990s he was a member of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. |
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29 Jun 04 - 11:58 AM (#1216307) Subject: RE: BS: Touch From: Gern Priceless. How he could retain such gentle feelings within the pit of such repression is amazing and inspiring. What do we create when we leave such persons "untouched"? |
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29 Jun 04 - 12:20 PM (#1216317) Subject: RE: BS: Touch From: wysiwyg Bless you, freda. ~Susan |
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29 Jun 04 - 03:11 PM (#1216465) Subject: RE: BS: Touch From: akenaton Aye Freda ,you must be quite a lady.That was fine...Ake |
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29 Jun 04 - 04:42 PM (#1216514) Subject: RE: BS: Touch From: AllisonA(Animaterra) What an incredible poem! Thank you, Freda. It hasn't been 7 years, and I've never been imprisoned, but I do know just a little about touch deprivation. Allison |
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29 Jun 04 - 05:34 PM (#1216551) Subject: RE: BS: Touch From: GUEST Funny how a poem can use few words to capture the essense of a reality. Beautiful. |
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29 Jun 04 - 08:09 PM (#1216628) Subject: RE: BS: Touch From: freda underhill This poem was sent to me a couple of days ago by a man I used to work for, an ex prisoner who was jailed for over a decade for armed robbery, studied law in jail, and created havoc within the prison system in NSW (Australia)by "unionising" the prisoners and lobbying and demanding better rights. His name is Brett Collins and he started a group called the Prisoners Action Group, and on release networked with academics and activists from different backgrounds against police "verbals" in the Anti-Police Verbal Campaign. He also started a printing business, Breakout Press, where he employs ex prisoners, and it is just about to celebrate its 20th anniversary. A campaign called Justice Action now runs from there, it is a lobby organisation specifically addressing issues of justice and policing. Brett has achieved a lot police "verballing" is now illegal, and the organisation has achived the release of several people who were wrongly jailed on false charges. I worked there when the press was first set up as an illustrator and cartoonist for their customers (no, I'm not an ex crim!). I met some "colourful" characters when i worked there and have a few funny (and scary) stories up my sleeve from those times. Like you I found this poem incredibly moving when Brett sent it to me. Everyone needs to be touched, and many people go for years without this fundamental need being fulfilled. And nowadays, many people live without physical closeness - people in prisons, in immigration detention centres, people in refugee camps, people in old people's homes and institutions of various sorts - and then the rest of us who may just live alone. www.breakout.net.au www.justiceaction.org.au |
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29 Jun 04 - 11:50 PM (#1216722) Subject: RE: BS: Touch From: mack/misophist I'm a cynic. There's a strong suspicion in my mind that he sensed the prevailing attitudes and grabbed himself a niche/job. He could be genuine. The odds are against it. |
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30 Jun 04 - 12:26 AM (#1216736) Subject: RE: BS: Touch From: GUEST,freda mack I don't think Brett pretends to be anything other than he is. he has been a conduit for change in a very corrupt policing environment. best wishes freda |
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30 Jun 04 - 03:45 AM (#1216800) Subject: RE: BS: Touch From: Ellenpoly I believe this man's sentiments to be real and I greatly empathize with what he wrote. Thank you freda. ..xx..e |
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30 Jun 04 - 03:53 AM (#1216803) Subject: RE: BS: Touch From: Partridge Thanks Freda, Pat xx |