Friday, November 27, 2009

Immigrannit! Pommigrannit!




READ WRITE POEM


IMMIGRANNIT! POMMIGRANNIT!

'Immigrannit! Pommigrannit!' little children used to cry
When a child who'd come from England happened to be passing by!
Those who'd traveled to Australia from their rainy land of birth
Were treated with extreme derision, mockery and cruel mirth.
Quite unused to brilliant sunshine, they would burn and go bright red.
'You look like a pomegranate!' all the taunting locals said.
And it's true, their rosy colour with it's painful fiery glow
Resembled pomegranates in their glory, putting on a fruitful show.
'Immigrannit! Pommigrannit!' echoed round the old school yard
And, no doubt, the little children found the taunting very hard.
Time went by and 'Pom!' was shouted and that word is used today.
I'm a 'Pom' and I accept that, feeling cherished, in a way.
Greeks, Italians, other peoples ousted 'Poms' as novelties,
Now we're old-hat and the 'strangers' are the folk who're Vietnamese!
Integration happens slowly but it happens by and by.
A word now spoken with affection started as a taunting cry.


*

A different view here:

6 comments:

Jo's-D-Eyes said...

Hi Rinkly rimes,
Nice blog you do have

thanks for posting this fruit I did not know -yet- the english name (pommigrannit?) in Dutch its called "Granaatappel", also something in the name with "apple", I just got this fruit as a preset for my birthday.... but I did not know how to eat and peel it off..
Also a sirup-drink is made from this fruit named "Grenadine", used a a mix for cocktails, I am never too old to learn a new thing...My compliments and Greetings:)

Wishing you a happy weekend and thank you for visiting my blog:)

JoAnn /Holland

rallentanda said...

Bloody whinging Poms!:))

Margaret Gosden said...

This fruit is also good for the brain! Various kinds of drinks are offered in supermarkets here with this as the main ingredient - food for the brain! Hopefully, I buy into it!

Unknown said...

I love the still life of the pomegranite. I've heard that the seeds contain anti-toxins.

Katherine said...

Nice word play : )

Paul Oakley said...

Thanks for broadening my horizons. In America's Midwest, I hadn't heard this story of immigration to Australia. Prison ships I knew, but not pommigrannits (poms).

Nice rhythm and rhyme.