Poetry of Witness for a Missing Amish Girl
Life and art often converge to form poetry of witness, a term popularized by Carolyn Forché.
Forché writes poetry that does not cross into runaway ego or devolve into political rant. Her writing remains true art of protest. The author’s philosophy of poetry of witness leads to the creation of fine art and demands a conscious mindfulness from the reader.
I’ll use a real life example of poetry of witness in action, based on a tragic event that is happening now, real-time, where I live: Amish Country, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, US. On June 21, 2020, on a nearby road, a kidnapper abducted an Amish girl and the search for her continues. Her name is Linda Stoltzfoos, of Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, US.
A writer’s first job for poetry of witness would be to research the event and assess the status of the investigation. For more information on the Missing Amish Girl, two online resources include:
1- Missing Amish Girl, Linda Stoltzfoos FaceBook Page. The site was setup by Linda’s uncle, a man who left the Amish faith. The kidnapping has brought together Amish and English communities in a search for Linda. https://www.facebook.com/111726970587041/photos/a.111758243917247/118278029931935
2- Amish America: News Reports on Missing Amish Girl: Were you on any of these 5 roads on June 21? Please contact police (Linda Stoltzfoos search) The Amish America website includes encyclopedic information about Amish culture, history, religion and way of life.
A haiku writer, Meik Blöttenberger, developed a plan for poetry of witness for writing haiku about Linda Stoltzfoos. His project will create a Linda-Book of haiku to honor the young life of the kidnap victim and mail a copy to the Stoltzfoos family. If you wish to submit a Linda-haiku for consideration, here’s the information Meik mailed to his haiku writers and friends:
You may have heard in the news about Linda Stoltzfoos, an eighteen year old Amish girl walking home from church, when she was kidnapped. I live in the Amish Country of Pennsylvania and so does Ingrid Bruck, and we are writing haiku that express our concern for Linda and her family, and they will be compiled in a publisher booklet and sent to the family of Linda Stoltzfoos. We invite you to send haiku on this subject to this email: bluesawdust@hotmail.com by August 15th, and below are two examples of haiku written for Linda:
your sweet smile
the smell of mowed hay
without you
—Ingrid Bruck
Pequea, Pennsylvania
springhouse
the cold flow inside me
always missing you
—Meik Blöttenberger
Hanover, Pennsylvania
Thank you for your time and let's show how haiku can be used an instrument of healing.
https://www.betweentheseshoresbooks.com/contact-us
Date Published: August 1, 2020