Poem

On a Weekend Break in a Political Vacuum

Title	On a Weekend Break in a Political Vacuum
Author	Alan Gillis

Instances of Publication

A published appearance of this poem.

Collection/Anthology	Year of Publication	Medium	View Details
Hawks and Doves	2007	Print	View Details

Publication Instance Details #1020

Collection/Anthology Details

Collection/Anthology	Hawks and Doves
Date of Publication	2007
Publisher	The Gallery Press (Ireland)

Publication Overview

Translation	Is Multilingual	Explicit Irish Context?	Ekphrasis	Has Paratext?	Reference to News, Media or Technology
No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes

Details

Human Rights Issues	War Displacement/Forced Migration Gender-based violence Health Poverty/Deprivation/Lack of Sustenance HR & Environment HR & Colonisation/Colonial Legacies Forced Labour (incl. slavery & child labour) Torture
War / Genocide Referenced	War: Global War on Terrorism War: Iraq War and Insurgency
Languages	English
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print
Notes	The female character of the poem, seeking a reprieve from politics and news of atrocities, is haunted by a myriad of stories that relate to human rights violations in a variety of international contexts including Aids epidemic in Africa; torture of interns (likely a reference to torture by US army personnel in Abu Ghraib prison during the War in Iraq); impending rape of mothers; infant mortality; child soldiers; militias; food security (rice mountains, persumably referring to Thailand). European and US culpability in violations in other regions is explicitly referenced. Explicit reference to painting by Paul Gauguin, possibly 'Among the Mangoes'.

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