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....

[Sami Khalil]

Wow. That is some shocking statistics that needs to be addressed by school officials even politicians too should do something about it. It used to be the mafia or the gangs but now it is more individuals doing it. Thank you for writing this poem and shedding the light on this issue...:)

[Frieda P]

I know, right? What shocked me is that 100,000 kids take guns to school! Thanks for your thoughts here Sami.

[Sami Khalil]

That is bad and wrong...You are welcome. :)

[Emily B]

we've all been there, thank you, thank you for shining light on this problem

[Frieda P]

Seems more people than we know are affected, thanks Emily.

[Rita L. Sev]

"Power of the darkness is terse & tensely overwhelming..." Indeed it is...

Bullying has taken on a whole new meaning. In my day, it was a lot of name-calling, labeling and ostracizing, but at least when I went home it was a safe place. As a teacher, I have had to deal with in-school bullying, and we have also been faced with the cyber variety. That is a much tougher issue to control.

Great, and important, poem, Frieda.

[Frieda P]

So true Rita, starts early, I've seen it in pre-school, thanks so much for reading.

[Androglossia]

crushed up glass in my coffee instead of creamer - I had an instant tooth-edge pain reading that. That sounds gore, in a good way. I think bullying has become a trend more than a social illness. Just a thought. This topic is relevant and has always been mainstreamed. Good word choice.

[Frieda P]

I was hoping that would be affecting, thanks Maryanne....

[Androglossia]

Welcome !

[Androglossia]

See? I was able to leave less than 25 characters, lol.

[Androglossia]

: )

[Baby Ricochet]

Great poem with some sobering facts. Some good lines in this poem and poetry is all about the line. Particularly free verse as it doesn't have rhyme and meter to fall back on so the line has to really capture the reader and this piece did that. Good job.

[Frieda P]

Very sobering indeed, and I'm pretty sure the numbers are higher, doesn't mention the kids that do themselves in due to it, thanks Mark.