Refugees

by Brian Bilston

They have no need of our help

So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way
1st Reading
Analysis

1. Class, what is a refugee?

ANSWER:

a. A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of

persecution, war or violence.

b. A refugee is a displaced person who has crossed national boundaries and who

cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

2. In the very first line, the narrator claims that refugees don’t need our help. What kinds

of conditions create refugees?

ANSWERS:

a. Refugees are often forced to flee persecution for their political or religious beliefs,

ethnicity, nationality or membership of a particular social group.

b. They're compelled to leave as a result of war.

c. They're displaced because of “natural” disasters, occurring increasingly as a

consequence of climate change.

3. On that note, would you be OK with refugees coming to Dominica?

OPEN TO INTERPRETATION:

i. What sort of rules should be put in place to deal with them?

4. Now, let’s discuss the narrator’s tone. How does he feel about refugees?

ANSWER:

a. He dislikes them.
 i. Pay attention to the poet’s use of pronouns. What do you notice?

ANSWER:

 The poet never calls the refugees “refugees.” He says “they”

instead. And he constantly uses personal pronouns like “me”

and “us”.

 He refers to refugees as “they” and uses personal and possessive

pronouns.

ii. Why do you think he does this?

ANSWER:

 He does this to emphasize the point that refugees are not

welcome.

5. What is ironic about the narrator, a white American, saying that “A place should only

belong to those who are born there”?

ANSWER:

a. The same argument can be used against him.

6. The narrator then says we should build a wall to keep refugees out. What do you think

this line refers to?

ANSWER:

a. Donald Trump
2nd Reading
Now, read the poem in reverse. Start from the bottom to the top.

1. What is the poet’s tone now?

ANSWER:

a. The tone is reversed. The message is tolerant, positive, welcoming towards

refugees.

2. Pay attention to how the poem is organized. What do you notice?

ANSWERS:

a. The poem doesn’t have any punctuation.

b. The poem is contained in one stanza

i. Why do you think the poem was organized this way?

ANSWER:

 The poet wanted the flow to be as continuous as possible. If he had

punctuated it or divided it into stanzas, the rhythm and the

cumulative nature of the poem would not have been as effective.

3. Why do you think the poet wrote his poem back-to-front, so to speak?

POSSIBLE ANSWERS:

a. To encourage people to have some perspective.

b. He wrote it in this way to illustrate the two very different attitudes people have

towards refugees.
c. He wanted to find a way to reflect this and find a way to turn negative feelings

into positive ones.