LETTERS: READ IN ENTIRETY, POEM WAS A TRIBUTE

To the editor:

On Feb. 4 the Southeast Missourian printed a letter, "Intended tribute was condescending," regarding David Tlapek's poem about Betty Simms. Truly, Viola Stafford proved to me Hamlet's line, "There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so." Stafford called the poem a "crude group of words" and pointed out lines she found offensive. The few parts she commented on could, if taken out of context, be construed as condescending. As with any poem, a few isolated words or lines cannot be extracted to prove the poem has been written in a disdainful manner. Stafford has deemed the word bad. But if read and understood in its entirety, the poem is a tribute.

It is true that the poem addresses Mrs. Simms' size, as Stafford points out. But that's probably one of the things the young boy remembered as a child. As a child, I remember being embarrassed by how high my large aunt piled the food on her plate at restaurant buffets. Kids will be kids. But to say that the writer is shameful for this is to leave out the larger theme this poem presents.

The child matured, and so did his thoughts and feelings about Betty Simms. He has grown to recognize the value of this woman. In the poem, the man visits her later in his life, and he's reminded of the "many years" of service, the "gleaming shine" of her polishing jobs, the bravery of carrying a "fiery skillet" and the beauty of her humility. His poem exhibits a pride in knowing this woman. To say his commentary on her size is disgraceful misses the point of the whole work, the point of the whole man and the point of the whole woman.

After reading Tlapek's poem, I had admiration for a person I have never met. It is my hope that someday one of my students will find me an honorable topic for poetry too. If the student begins the poem by saying I have a nose as big as a toucan's beak, I will certainly forgive him if by the end of the poem he's praising my "many years" of service, the "gleaming shine" of my encouragement, the bravery of facing rowdy sophomores every day and the beauty of my humility. Betty Simms gave a student of life inspiration. I hope this can be said -- or, better yet, written -- about me someday.

TRACY FISHER

Jackson