haiku poems
Criminal justice
Why are the good sent away?
The system is bad
Was wrongly accused
Was sent to jail with no proof
No, this is not fair
The Dew Breaker says
Killed a priest got a face scar
Constant reminder
He should be held for
All the lives he killed but no,
Got away with all
Reflection
I chose to do 4 haiku poems for my project about the criminal justice system and how it continues to fail us every day. In “The Dew Breaker” we saw what Ka’s father went through with everything he did in his past and how it impacted him and Ka’s mothers’ lives, as well as everyone else they are connected to. Ka’s father got away with every single murder he committed, with only the scar on his face to prove it. “The fat man’s shock worked in his favor, for it allowed him a few seconds to slide the piece of wood down the fat man’s face, tearing the skin down to his jawline.” pg. 226 The scar brought a lot of emotional damage to him, and he now holds the content reminder of what he did on his face.
“Every time he looked in the mirror, he would have to confront this mark and remember him.”
page 227 – The Dew Breaker
The American criminal justice system is so fucked up I don’t even know where to start. A man who raped his daughter can go to jail for 7 years and be out on good behavior by year 3. But, a man who stole a loaf of bread can go to jail for 10 years, and because of a past misdemeanor is not eligible to get out on good behavior and now must spend 10 years in jail while someone who raped his daughter can be out in 3. I read an article about a New Orleans boy who committed many violent crimes – never killing anyone but breaking into many cars. He is now faced with 99 years of jail for the crimes he committed since he has been arrested so many times. Now to mention the people who commit murders. I watch way too many serial killer shows and true crime podcasts such as, Crime Junkie to know how to successfully kill and hide a body. The people who aren’t so lucky and don’t watch these kind of shows are sometimes out of jail within 20-30 years if, it is the first true major crime they have faced. How is that right? You took someone’s life away, yet you can continue to live yours? in The Dew Breaker Ka’s father gave up his life and is now running from his life as a murder. he believed this was for the best he no longer wanted to live his life as a killer, but is going “free” the way to do it? what about all the lives he took and all the sadness he has caused for the peoples love ones?
“he had escaped from his life. He could no longer return to it, no longer wanted to.”
page 237 – The Dew Breaker
I chose to do haiku poems because I believe poems show a different level of understanding and go into a deeper level then just plain text. Poetry holds a lot of meaning and feeling. I remember reading a poem as a child called The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein. My mother read it to me repeatedly. I loved that poem and I always felt so bad for the tree who gave up everything so the little boy could live, even her own branches and trunk. In a way it is kind of related to The Dew Breaker Ka’s parents who gave up their past to raise her, but their painful and toxic past still haunts them. This book also reminds me of the TV show Cold Case Files or the YouTube channel BuzzFeed Unsolved Network where they look at cases that are thought to have gone cold- or have no end. Unsolvable in a sense. There’s this one case that stands out to me specifically, we studied it in my senior year high school class. It was about a little girl named JonBenet Ramsey. She was found strangled to death and no one was ever arrested for her murder. This case has been cold for years, yet no one has any more information about her killer than when the case was still open. While people have theories of who killed her, no one will ever know who really killed her. Ka’s father killed people for many years and got away with all of them, the murders would have gone “cold”, and after all this time it would be hard to link the murders back to Ka’s father. In both cases of JonBenet and Ka’s father, the murder cases would eventually go cold leading to no future suspects and overall keeping her father out of jail.
I liked this project because I was able to think about how I could turn The Dew Breaker into something more than just a novel, I was able to think deeper. I like using poetry because I can show emotion in my writing then just a straightforward textual essay.
Works cited
https://apps.colorado.gov/apps/coldcase/casedetail.html?id=275 – JonBenet Ramsy
Colorado, State of. “Colorado Bureauof Investigation (CBI).” Colorado Cold Case Files – Case Detail: JonBenet Ramsey, https://apps.colorado.gov/apps/coldcase/casedetail.html?id=275.
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-giving-tree/ – The Giving Tree
Shel Silverstein. “The Giving Tree – the Giving Tree.” PoemHunter.com, 7 Apr. 2010, https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-giving-tree/.
Author: Mike Perlstein / Eyewitness Investigator. “Repeatedly Facing Violent Crime Charges He Was out and Now Suspected of More.” Wwltv.com, 15 Feb. 2022, https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/investigations/repeatedly-facing-violent-crime-charges-he-was-out-and-now-suspected-of-more/289-351914ff-1830-4293-978d-1593bd4ade5e.
Sprockets and Springes 