Thursday, May 3, 2012

Retaliation



image borrowed from bing

Retaliation 
Never be pushed into abysmal darkness,
badgered by bullies, under duress.
Darwin may have figured it wrong,
one can survive with Pan’s song
on our pursed lips, while turning cheek,
owning pain, not accepting the meek
label forced raw upon our delicate person;
we search for compassion and find none,
we open our arms warm and wide,
allowing their bile access inside;
we know we are not a flesh doormat,
so we change bellicose to gnat;
we retaliate with a genuine smile
as contagion, de-fusion for a while.
Glenn Buttkus
May 2012
Posted over on dVerse Poets-FFA

12 comments:

Claudia said...

hey..not easy as all for those kids that are more of sensitive nature...a colleague from work has a son who suffered a lot from bullying...love the surviving with pan's sond on pursed lips while turning cheek...it needs much strength to do this...

Beachanny said...

Very valiant subject: well conceived and constructed. This, too, isn't easy as large themes must be tightened to bone to get into 140 syllables of rhymed meter. I think you handled it very well here.

Brian Miller said...

nice...will say i like the second version the best...pan's sound...really like that sound....

Marbles in My Pocket said...

Bullying has been around since the beginning of civilization. As our world evolves into a more self-serving society, it will only get worse. Another's pain is nowadays considered entertainment.
A good write on a formidable subject.

Anonymous said...

I like this couplet best:

"we open our arms warm and wide,
allowing their bile access inside"

rosemarymint.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Excellent

Anonymous said...

Bullying is not a wonder thing, a subject to bring awareness too. you've done that well here.
http://leahjlynn.wordpress.com/

Semaphore said...

An accomplished Clarian sonnet, sir, and what a courageous subject for the form. Sonnets are usually seen as a romantic form, and this is about as far from romantic as anything; so to achieve your message in such a structure - a fear.

Anonymous said...

Great Stuff!

Dave King said...

I rather fear that bullying will always be around, though some actions which were not thought of as bullying when I was a kid, now are. That must be some sort of progress. This write provides the sort of insight that we need to encounter more often. Excellent.

Lydia said...

You tackled a big issue and made me really feel the angst and pain. I like this a lot, but I hate that kids have to endure this....growing up is hard enough as it is.

Rosemary Nissen-Wade said...

You had me at 'Pan's song'.