A Room of One’s Own

surplus to requirements
just over two point four
no room in the cramped flat
and nowhere else to go
dreams to engender
I had to keep them safe, so…

I found a box and put a room inside

sofa surfing’s difficult
being a burden’s worse
it’s easy to lose friends
even easier to lose trust
life on the street’s dangerous
pavements are cold and hard
in a smelly sleeping bag
and a house made out of card

I found a box and put a room inside

it takes a lot to admit defeat
to pull yourself together
and ask for help getting off the street
we all need a room of our own
a place to put up our feet
a sanctuary and a cozy home

I found a box and put a room inside

Kim M. Russell, 2nd May 2024

Image by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

This Thursday at the dVerse Poets Pub we are Meeting the Bar with Laura and a poetry form called The Bop.

Laura starts by telling us about the line she would like us to include in our Bops: “I found a box and put a room inside”, which she says was spoken by a creative person on YouTube, who was showing how she designed some miniature cut-out furniture to make a ‘box room’. I recently hosted Poetics with a box prompt based on a poem by Gillian Clarke, so the subject of boxes is close to my heart. I enjoyed the extracts from poems that Laura gave as examples: ‘Music Box’ by Jorge Luis Borges, ‘Jewel Box’ by Eamon Grennan, and Kimiko Hahn’s ‘The Dream of a Lacquer Box’.

The form we are writing is Bop Poetry, a twenty-three-line poem created by Aafa Michael Weaver, which has three stanzas: the first stanza has six lines and poses a problem; the second stanza has eight lines which expand on the problem; and six lines that solve, or fail to solve, the problem. After each stanza, the following refrain is repeated:  ‘I found a box and put a room inside’ OR ‘I found a box… [adding our own words to complete the line].

37 thoughts on “A Room of One’s Own”

    1. I don’t see any homeless people out here in the back of beyond. It’s only when I go to the city, especially London, that I see the and it makes me sad and angry.

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  3. You executed the bop and the given line to brilliant effect, Kim, taking us into the desperation of the homeless to find “a room of our own.” The pathos of the refrain takes on a tragic intensity by the time it is repeated for the final time. Wonderful poetry.

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  5. Housing has become all but unaffordable and the trend continues. Packing multiple families into slumlord firetraps is somehow acceptable. I was watching YT channel, “Tokyo Lens” where the host shows the tiniest apartments. Even one of those would give a human being a sense that they can relax without being watched or harassed. Kim, you do a good job of empathizing with the homeless in your bop poem.

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    1. Thank you, Jim. There s no homelessness in our little village, but I do see it when I go into Norwich occasionally. But still not quite as bad as London.

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  10. Excellent topical poem beautifully done…it’s so sad to see so many people homeless. Everyone needs a room of one’s own, to rest their feet. Homelessness is one problem that could be easily fixed if governments had some courage.

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    1. I agree, Dianne. Here in the UK there is so much empty property that could easily be turned into flats for the homeless. I was almost made homeless when Ellen was four and it frightened me. Luckily I found a housing association that helped. I later bought the flat they put me in.

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      1. So happy you were able to access support and be able to buy your flat. It would have been frightening. It’s so bad here people with well paying jobs and two incomes cannot secure housing, so those doing it tough stand no chance.

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  14. Kim your Bop Poem is stunning and strikes a chord in the heart of every reader who has a homeless problem in their town / city … we certainly do in Bend Oregon. Thank you for the highlight. [Thank you for leaving me a comment too.]

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  15. Every homeless needs your room, just a room would be better than bedding down under a bridge or even on a bench in the park. Most cities in the U.S. have these; we’ve noticed France does not, they are a socialist country.

    ..

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