Jan Fran, a journalist and writer, has shared a poem titled "Warm Enough" as part of Australian Poetry Month, a piece that attempts to capture the feeling of living in two parallel universes. The poem reflects her experience as a mother raising a young son during what she describes as a time of "tremendous helplessness."
Exploring the Poem's Themes
The poem repeatedly asks the question, "what temperature is my son," a refrain that anchors the narrative across different scenes—from sunny coastal days to rainy walks to school. It weaves together moments of everyday parenting with a deeper sense of unease, as seen in lines about dressing her son while "mourning another mother's son" and observing a "storm that's only just begun."
Fran explains that "Warm Enough" speaks to her experience as a mother raising a little boy in what feels like a time of collapse. It is about holding the big and small at the same time, seeing pure innocence up close every day while in the same breath seeing it taken in the most unconscionable of ways. She poses the question, "How can it be that the skies are both dark and bright?"
Context and Inspiration
In her commentary, Fran reflects on the emotional toll of watching Israel's genocide unfold in Gaza, describing feelings of tremendous helplessness, a loss of faith in humanity, and a rising sense of dread. She notes that witnessing the wholesale slaughter of human beings in real time for almost three years, along with the obfuscation and minimisation, is not something the nervous system can successfully ballast against.
Fran also touches on the advice she has received from therapists to keep a journal, saying, "Write it down, write it all down, they say. You'll feel better." She observes that words are an excellent evacuation tool, the mechanism by which distress leaves the body, yet she wonders, "But how to speak the unspeakable?"
Australian Poetry Month
Australian Poetry Month runs throughout August and includes festivals, events, workshops, and a commissioned poem of the day brought to you by Red Room Poetry. Fran's poem is part of this series, where each week during the month, a poet walks readers through one of their works.
