Thursday, January 5, 2012

Vice-Versa

It looked like trivial teasing
meant to be laughed over with friends,
something that happens all the time
among children grouped randomly
in the rooster coop that is school.

But something more unpleasant
grew out of that trivial teasing:
when teasing became bullying,
when the hitting, poking, taunting,
shoving and hair pulling got too
much to be taken like a joke.

A surge of anger rose like lava;
enough was enough: it had to
end and it had to end someday.

The pressure of anger bubbled,
swear word volcano exploded
from a mouth that had been too
silent for months, punctuated
with kicks, punches and slaps
delivered with vindictive pleasure.

Then anger receded to the
sea of emotions
like the aftermath of a furious tsunami.

But what would remain for the days
to come is tension that will keep
crackling in the classroom, making
it harder to celebrate the
significant victory
of putting a foot down.

5 comments:

  1. It sounds like the one who was bullied finally took action. Perhaps not the 'right' action, but perhaps the action was right for this situation; as it stopped it. And yes, as you say in your poem, 'it had to end.'

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  2. Love the last stanza that clearly illustrates the tension, the high emotion, following the showdown. This piece moves with appropriate speed and terseness,given the topic and the characters within.

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  3. Let the lesson learned be remembered. Great insight.

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  4. Applause to the heroine who took a stand, and boo-hiss to those who bullied her!!!! I have noticed something in my life - the "popular crowd" in school rarely does much with their lives when they leave school - the odd-ones-out, the true individuals, are the ones who make something wonderful of their lives. They come into their own in university, too which is the opposite of high school.

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  5. Good write - can relate to this. I was bullied for a time at school and then fought back, and I gained some odd kind of respect from the bullies as they never bothered me again.

    Anna :o]

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