This poem uses a brutal “Yes & No” duality to contrast two lives: a girl of extreme privilege and a girl of extreme poverty. The “Yes” girl lives in a “country of privilege” where she chooses her sports. The “No” girl is in a “jumbled-up world” and is poor, forced to work in a shoe factory instead of staying home.
The poem heightens the contrast to a point of devastating horror. The privileged girl has a sweet sixteen party. The other girl is packed into a ship container and sees a strange warning poster. The poem ends with the inevitable tragedy of human trafficking: the “word king after traffic”.
- I know a little English,” she told the other girls cooped with her.
- That poster says ‘Report’- but don’t know why there is ‘king’ after ‘traffic’
- Yes & No & No & Yes.
- They say that a butterfly flaps its wings,