Poverty, Work, and Status

This poem revolves around what is, at its essence, a professional encounter. Two people at work – a young, naive police officer, and a much more experienced prostitute, find themselves in conflict with one another. One of the core themes of the poem, then, is how work impacts one’s status and one’s role in society. Sex work has been a part of human economies as long as the concept of exchanging money for goods has existed, and maybe even before – it is, proverbially, the oldest profession. And, for just as long (although not in every society), prostitution has been accompanied with significant social shaming and stigma. In Jamaica during the era of the poem’s authorship, as in the United States today, sex work was illegal. This creates the premise of the poem: it is the job of the police officer to...