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“If I Had My Way” by Yvonne Sam, Guyanese Artist Philip Moore, Guyanese-Canadian Poet, Life’s Many Faces: Fun-on-the-Run by Yvonne Sam
My Poetry Corner November 2017 features the poem “If I Had My Way” from the poetry collection, Life’s Many Faces: Fun-on-the-Run (2013), by Yvonne Sam, a Guyanese-born poet, nurse, educator, and community volunteer. For the past forty years, she lives in Canada where she earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing, following a thirteen-year nursing career in England. To fill a need for teachers in her community in Montreal, she later obtained a Masters in Education and a Diploma in Adult Education.
While Yvonne Sam maintains a light tone throughout her collection, she does not shy away from injecting an irreverent tone or strong moral convictions when dealing with life’s controversial issues. As a black woman and teacher, she urges “Black Youth” to get an education, to stay in school. She propels them forward in her poem:
So move on black youth let not your mind tire
Education must serve as an unquenchable fire
With passage of time it will speak and attest
Of a proud black youth and one of the best
In her Nature poem, “Earth’s Pain,” she observes that man has not been a good steward of the earth. Where trees once grew is now covered with misery, pain and sorrow.
Though so many errors man has made
Earth needs us now and our supporting aid
Let’s all awake from this terrible nightmare
And give her our love and a little care
While the Good Book (Christian Bible) teaches us how to live in harmony and peace, Sam admits in “Peace not Pieces” that’s now totally impossible if wars never cease.
Wars and destruction would never start
If love and tolerance dwelt in every heart
Rockets, guns, missiles and bullets too
Examples of what damage to each other can do
Our streets are also unsafe. In “Crime Time,” Sam questions our lack of compassion towards each other:
Senseless violence sending bullets astray
Giving victims no time a goodbye to say
Blacks killing blacks
Whites killing whites
Children killing children
What’s gone wrong with the world out there?
Is it true that people don’t care?
Sam confesses in her poem on “Love” that love cannot be bought it is priceless and free / and will always remain one of life’s mystery. Yet, a little “Common Sense (Come On Sense)” can save the day:
When talk of strife, danger and rumors fill the air
And facts are so distorted that views become unfair
Trifles get so magnified that they seem immense
Just forget party politics and use plain common sense
In the featured poem, “If I Had My Way,” the poet dreams of ending poverty, of workers getting a just living wage. With an end to war, brotherly and sisterly love would thrive.
Human beings would cease to doubt
Narrow views would be broadened out
Everyone would then see the light of day
If I am allowed to have my way
To read the complete featured poem and learn more about Yvonne Sam and her work, go to my Poetry Corner November 2017.
Three Worlds One Vision 
She is absolutely right about black youth and education. Everybody gains automatic respect by being educated.
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A good education makes a great difference in the lives of our black youth, but is no guarantee for “automatic respect.” Here in the USA, even an Ivy League education does not guarantee automatic respect for successful black men and women. Just ask Harvard’s Professor Henry Louis Gates. It’s even worse for educated black youth at the bottom of the ladder who are at risk of losing their lives when faced with police brutality.
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this is too true, Rosaliene – your post is a does a great service to publicize
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Thanks for dropping by 🙂
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Reblogged this on Guyanese Online.
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Much appreciated, Cyril. Thanks, too, for sharing Yvonne Sam’s articles on your Guyanese Online Blog.
Have a great week 🙂
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Pingback: “If I Had My Way” – Poem by Guyanese-Canadian Poet Yvonne Sam
Thanks for sharing my post with your readers. Much appreciated 🙂
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Clearly an influential voice
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Judging from the awards and recognition she has received for her work among her community (see my comment to JoAnn), she is, indeed, Derrick.
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I am sending my hopes that the words coming from her pen reaches God’s ears.
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Me, too, Bernadette, and the ears of all good men and women across our country and worldwide. God uses our hands to fulfill His works.
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We live in an interesting time, Rosaliene. Education, to the extent that it is represented by scientists, is discredited, except as a way to make money. And money, or the appearance of having it, makes some people esteem you and believe you are well-educated. The “narrow views” the poet decries are hailed as virtuous and a higher form of understanding than anything taught in school. Here’s hoping the poet’s voice prevails.
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I also hope that the poet’s voice prevails, Dr. Stein.
From what I read in the media, our public schools are failing our most vulnerable children. To make a bad situation much worse, our newly-appointed Education Secretary Betsy Devos, a billionaire with no experience working in education, is now free to have her way of introducing her decades-long dream of school voucher programs and privatizing our public schools.
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Rosaliene,
Me, too.
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Indeed, Katharine. All of us who seek a better world for all share Yvonne Sam’s vision.
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I feel uplifted, Rosaliene. Thank you for sharing Yvonne Sam’s work and discussing the theme’s that appear in her poetry.
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My pleasure, JoAnn 🙂 During my research on Yvonne Sam, I discovered that she is a woman of direct action. In 2014, she received Canada’s Caring Award for Volunteers, granted to citizens across the country. That same year, she was also among Montreal’s Black History Month Laureates.
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A very active, productive woman!
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She is, indeed!
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When a society despises itself and is imploding, when it knows justice is no longer available,
then emotions take over the rule of day.
Then follow the fast and furious: stones, arrows, spears, bullets, missiles fly, become that society’s voice.
Then the blood flows: fear, anger and hate mount; pogroms and genocide, or revolution follow.
More blood, more hate, until so much has been spilled emotions are shocked into a new form of control.
And then?
Then we start all over.
For the world of man functions as a wheel of fortune.
Love? Yes, love could stop the wheel but how many of society’s current leaders hold power because they want people to love one another, leading in altruism and self-sacrifice?
If I had my way… I would likely echo most of Yvonne Sam’s sentiments.
Well, come to think of it, I do have my way… It’s not the popular way, but it is mine and it cannot be taken away from me; it cannot be voted out of office, or silenced by death. I possess life’s greatest gift to man: compassion.
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Sha’Tara, the study of the rise and fall of ancient and modern empires does reveal that “the world of man functions as a wheel of fortune.” Fortune for the rulers; misfortune for the masses. What a pity we have not found a way to inoculate all humans with doses of compassion!
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Thank you for introducing Yvonne Sam and her great poetry. Everyone you have chosen to represent various issues in this world is so astute and harmonious at the same time. ” Is it true that people don’t care..” she says in one.
I do trust that enough do and an awakening is neigh.
The Artwork is stunning too.
Miriam
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Thanks for dropping by, Miriam. I, too, hope that as more of us show we care, “an awakening is neigh.”
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Amazing
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Thanks for dropping by, Caroline.
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Rosaline i would love to invite you to see my blog and some of my poems may be you will be amazed
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I did stop by your blog, Caroline. Blessings.
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