Barbed Wired Bully

"Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year, according to the CDC. Bully victims are 9 times more likely to consider suicide."

Please take your medicine,

       your darkness is devouring my sight

what were you expecting, 

             i tried to break your fall

long silences and outbursts of pure rancid evil

bones splintered to the core

                           of lunatic's withdrawal

loose cannons of barbed wire wrap around my mind

i woke up yesterday with a tombstone in my eyes

             crushed up glass in my coffee instead of creamer

rolled over to pretend I was still asleep in your head

               no time to waste on being devoured on a thread

staring down the barrel of an intentional plinker 

              sleeping with my own Baretta on lock & load

balancing this bird on a razor wire of slick crystal write

             it's slipping away, was a little too late for cake

power of the darkness is terse & tensely overwhelming

               drowning in the murky waters of past wastelands

there are no wildflower posy's left to be sowed

 still holding on to that final letter of reality to conquer insanity

Recent School Bullying and Cyberbullying Statistics Show That:

• 1 out of 4 kids are Bullied.
• 77% of students are bullied mentally, verbally, & physically. Cyberbullying statistics are rapidly approaching similar numbers, with 43% experiencing cyberbullying.
• Of the 77% of students that said they had been bullied, 14% of those who were bullied said they experienced severe (bad) reactions to the abuse.
• 1 in 5 students admit to being a bully, or doing some "Bullying."
• Each day 160,000 students miss school for fear of being bullied.
• 43% of kids fear harassment in the bathroom at school.
• 100,000 students carry a gun to school.
• 28% of youths who carry weapons have witnessed violence at home.
• 282,000 students are physically attacked in secondary schools each month.
• More youth violence occurs on school grounds as opposed to on the way to school.
• Playground school bullying statistics - Every 7 minutes a child is bullied. Adult intervention - 4%. Peer intervention - 11%. No intervention - 85%.

http://www.a4kclub.org/get-the-facts/bullying-statistics

Author's Note

Reviews

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

My Oldest child was bullied and I will probably say that I was bullied by her father and that is why she found it acceptable. she, with a much quieter nature than my own quivered in fear each day and took on the twisted mental state of her boyfriend..the bully-er. She thought if she acted out she could get him help but it consumed her and she got so dark in her own depression I thought I might lose her. She stole, lied, became a cutter..ect ect. she is better now, but never fully recovered from those two years. Thank you Freida for posting this! For letting the statistics be heard! It is SO scary! You did an AMAZING job!

[Frieda P]

I hear you, my father was a bully also, he used to push us around and my mother was scared to death of him, but she's still with the b*****d, go figure....thanks for your thoughts here Queenie, glad she made it through that horror....

[Tai Ryens]

I saw the unrequited love of an abusive relationship here. Always reaching out an extra hand to help out the fallen other, only to be betrayed by ruthless linguistics. I didn't quite find what everyone else saw, I suppose..

[Frieda P]

Intriguing review, always love your viewpoint here Tai....

[Pete Langley]

Seems to me most of these awful statistics stem from too much knowledge of the world too early....and too many influences outside the home and family. Kids are exposed to a plethora of adulthood, either increasing their complex of superiority- or inferiority - with no balance or censure to straighten them up by a society bent on competition. Sorry, rambling again, sweet. Nice one. P.

[Frieda P]

Not rambling, I wholeheartedly agree with you, children younger and younger are accessing the internet, it's a dangerous place if not aware...thanks so much my dear Pete.

[KeeD]

the poem was really strong and powerful, really good write, i liked the information and also the music provided with the poem, shinedown is a really good band. Bullying will stop when people who know a bully don't encourage him/her.. the laughing and the silence fuels the soul of a bully. We're all human, we're all flawed in someway or the other, lets not bring each other down for it.

[Frieda P]

Hear, hear to your words, that doesn't help those defenseless kids that are usually the target though, thanks so much Kee, always good to hear from you.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Whoa! the music did my head in you bully! Nice description of the problem. It is hard to know why kids have to do this as part of their cultural growth. Do we engender it is our fast paced lives that seem to have neglected to give our children a loving stable home life and not one where we are always competing and working to earn money!

[Frieda P]

Ha John, grow up, and turn the volume down! I don't know the answer to that, seems to be an ever increasing problem, children are actually losing their lives to these unforgivable actions.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Another Pickle scolding. My flesh has been scourged!

[Frieda P]

Ahhh but it hurts sooooooooo good! ;-)

[Coyote Poetry]

Thank you for your poetry and the facts. World had never been easy. Always been bullies. I taught my kids don't accept it and be proud of themselves. We must know our kids. New world is hard. Kids see little positive in the news and real life. We must give hope and show our kids. We will stand with them in the good and the bad times. Thank you for the facts.
Coyote

[Frieda P]

New world is a much scarier place to be a kid, bombarded by so many more images now due to modern technology, kids are accessing the internet at a very tender age, it's all around them. Thanks for your thoughts here John.

[Archangel Gabriel]

Wow this is a scary insight into growing up in America. The poem is nice if also frightening.

[Frieda P]

It's very frightening, thanks Gabriel.

[MOON]

It starts in the playground and ends with wars and we wonder at the state of the world . Great write Frieda!

[Frieda P]

Exactly MOON, I see it in small children every day, the problem only tends to get worse, thanks so much!

[Zahra]

Bullys are everywhere, schools, colleges, universities. Adults can also be seen being treated this way, there's something wrong with our social structure. A strong and well written poem.

[Frieda P]

The thing is what to do with this broken social structure, thanks so much Zahra.

[Brett Pritchard]

A brilliant piece of work there highlighting some pretty shocking statistics.
Bullying is of course reprehensible in whatever form it takes, and it can take many.

Indeed there are some young people out there experiencing it who don't even know that they're being bullied, assuming instead that what they tolerate is the norm. It isn't.
To torment some poor soul, to make the choice, and it IS a choice, to hound that persons very life on a regular sometimes daily basis is one of the most truly vile and divisive acts in which people can engage.

Oh they aren't evil. Nothing so sophisticated as that can be offered as description.
They're just dumb. Too dumb to see the toll their anaemically under-considered actions take.

These people need to be educated and made to understand that everyone is entitled to a harmonious existence. Lets stop bullying, and maybe one day make it a thing of the past.

[Frieda P]

Very shocking indeed, and they are probably much higher, these are those that were reported. Thanks for your support Brett.

[Brett Pritchard]

You are truly welcome.

BP

[Dr. Wood ?]

aqnother poem about the hateful side of humans....Will we ever eradicate this?

the idealist in me says yes..the cynic knows that is not true

great poem Frieda....keep fighting the cause

[Frieda P]

Thanks Dave, we all fight together...