Bugged
Let's workshop this poem about some cultural exchange in a remote jungle
Bugged
Having taught the tribe
Jersey English
for anthropological kicks
(tone, swagger, too),
loincloth kids—as if
outside a bodega
surveilled—strut
among breasts and lemurs,
repeating (with hands
of chutzpah) against
birdsong: “Youse guys,
fuhgeddaboudit!”
This poem is unpublished
Photo: manvsclock.com/the-tribespeople-of-papua-new-guinea/
Safe-Space Report.--The poem is using stereotypes and appropriating a culture (Jersey English) for the sake of humor or novelty, and that this could make people from that culture feel marginalized or unsafe. The poem's portrayal of "loincloth kids" and "breasts and lemurs" could also be seen as objectifying or exoticizing certain groups of people, which could be uncomfortable or offensive to some listeners. Finally, the use of the phrase "youse guys, fuhgeddaboudit" could be seen as perpetuating negative stereotypes of Italian Americans or people from the New York/New Jersey area, which could make people from those groups feel targeted or discriminated against.