BACK IN THE PLAYGROUND BLUES
I dreamed I was back in the playground, I was about four feet high
Yes I dreamed I was back in the playground, standing about four feet high
Well the playground was three miles long and the playground was five miles wide
It was broken black tarmac with a high wire fence all around
Broken black dusty tarmac with a high fence running all around
And it had a special name to it, they called it The Killing Ground
Got a mother and a father they're one thousand years away
The rulers of the Killing Ground are coming out to play
Everybody thinking: ‘Who they going to play with today?’
Well you get it for being Jewish
And you get it for being black
You get it for being chicken
And you get it for fighting back
You get it for being big and fat
Get it for being small
Oh those who get it get it and get it
For any damn thing at all
Sometimes they take a beetle, tear off its six legs one by one
Beetle on its black back, rocking in the lunchtime sun
But a beetle can’t beg for mercy, a beetle’s not half the fun
I heard a deep voice talking, it had that iceberg sound
‘It prepares them for Life’ - but I have never found
Any place in my life worse than The Killing Ground.
Yes I dreamed I was back in the playground, standing about four feet high
Well the playground was three miles long and the playground was five miles wide
It was broken black tarmac with a high wire fence all around
Broken black dusty tarmac with a high fence running all around
And it had a special name to it, they called it The Killing Ground
Got a mother and a father they're one thousand years away
The rulers of the Killing Ground are coming out to play
Everybody thinking: ‘Who they going to play with today?’
Well you get it for being Jewish
And you get it for being black
You get it for being chicken
And you get it for fighting back
You get it for being big and fat
Get it for being small
Oh those who get it get it and get it
For any damn thing at all
Sometimes they take a beetle, tear off its six legs one by one
Beetle on its black back, rocking in the lunchtime sun
But a beetle can’t beg for mercy, a beetle’s not half the fun
I heard a deep voice talking, it had that iceberg sound
‘It prepares them for Life’ - but I have never found
Any place in my life worse than The Killing Ground.
The poem breaks my heart. It´s as if you can feel the sadness, the desolation, and the suffering. You can almost feel the bitterness of helplessness. Until I got to "it prepares them for life" I was thinking it was a poem about a child in the concentration camp where the poet uses different metaphors or similes like playground and so on.
ReplyDeleteLater I understood that it´s a case of bullying, where the bully uses reasons such as physical appearance, religion, or beliefs as an excuse to mock and no one is safe. The poet remembers the time when he was a child and suffered a lot on the playground. He felt so small, trapped in the big playground, unprotected by his parents and teachers, hoping not to be the chosen one. The irony in the word "play" used in the sense of bullying is so cruel that it disconcerts you. On the other hand, the name that the children gave to the playground written in capital letters “The Killing Ground” shows us how much the kids were afraid of it and how much they hated it.
Regarding the word “tarmac”, it means pavement.
Thanks, Laura. I also love the poem.
ReplyDeleteI have one question: Why the Killing Ground? Can you see an allusion there?
And I forgot one thing: tarmac and pavement are not the same. Can you look tarmac up?
ReplyDelete