Reds and blues
In a corner
Of the playground
Stands a skinny girl
Munching on her hair,
Gazing blindly into the football court.
She's pretty, she's cute, she's clever,
But she does not know.
She's leaning on a dark red brick wall,
One of her legs against the building
Like a disillusioned flamingo's.
There's a huge scab on her right knee,
But soon it will fall off, leaving a pink spot.
Soft and delicate.
I wish my hair was like Linda's,
I wish I was taller.
I wish boys liked me or at least noticed me.
I wish I was invisible or maybe I wish the opposite.
There's an untouched sandwich in her hand
Wrapped in kitchen foil.
She doesn't want to open it.
I bet it's the same as every day:
A soggy hot dog heated hurriedly in the microwave.
Not even at home. Not even there.
I'm a nobody everywhere.
Shouts in the distance and cruel laughs.
Josh is lying in the middle of the playground
While the usual thugs kick him just for fun.
Where are the teachers? Where are the parents?
Aren't they supposed to protect us?
To know what's going on?
But I guess they have other things on their minds
And the suffering of a little boy and a little girl
Has no space in their busy brains.
Shame on them!
Written by: Maria Garcia
Interesting, Maria: Well written from the thoughts, vision, and words of a school teacher. It is a touching and realistic story of what is a sad reality in this world, happening to children daily around the world. Excellent job
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tier. That means a lot coming from you. I'll never be able to write poetry the way you do ... but I like trying.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I'm not using FB much at the moment, but three social networks were a lot, so now I only use Twitter.
Take care and thanks for your comment.
Will be back on FB when I'm on holiday, I hope.
DeleteI really know this situation for somebody in my close family. It was terrible and I didn´t deal with it correctly at the begining.
ReplyDeleteVery bad memories about it.
Maria, I agree with your friend, It is a beautiful poem, sad and realistic at the same time. Thanks for it.
My friend is a really good poet. Me, not so much. I'm better at writing prose.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Bullying is horrible.
This is very sad and unfortunately more frequent than we think.. I've also had a very similar close familiar situation during several years that triggered a very cruel illness causing two hospitalizations... we have suffered a lot because there is no clear and easy way to handle it..
ReplyDeleteI think that human nature is sometimes too much cruel and nowadays our society doesn't help very much with this kind of problems, but increase them with social networks regrettably.
Cristina
Yes, it's a very serious problem, but at least nowadays we're aware of it. I was bullied at school and back then it was swept under the carpet. I'm sure the bullying is part of who I am today (both good and bad things).
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