"The Nobodies"

A poem shared in my Poverty & Development class this week, written by an individual reflecting on how he feels he and his people are perceived in the world.  It also reveals perceptions of the non-poor.  

"The Nobodies"

Who are not, but could be.
Who don’t speak languages, but dialects.
Who don’t have religions, but superstitions.
Who don’t create art, but handicrafts.
Who don’t have culture, but folklore.
Who are not human beings, but human resources.
Who don’t have faces, but arms.
Who do not have names, but numbers.
Who do not appear in the history of the world, but in the police blotter of the local paper.
The nobodies, that are not worth the bullet that kills them.

Eduardo Galeanao
The Book of Embraces
W. W. Norton, 1991