I have to leave for a retreat in 8 minutes. So here is something really old- it is actually the first poem that I wrote for Slamicide.
9:00 am
Third day
British Lit
When He asks arms, crossed,
booked closed,
legs extended…
first row,
“Why do we have to read this?”
And there it is,
the question that sticks
out like a giant hairy mole;
the one on a first meeting that you try to ignore
but you can’t;
so you are left uncomfortable.
And I stall, because I know the
real reason;
it’s what I’m supposed to do.
It is covering the ground set
by navigators that
I know
are
lost.
“Well you see,
Beowulf is a historically
important text to Anglo Saxon culture in England…”
“But we are in America…”
And suddenly my classroom is transformed
to the OK corral,
the showdown has begun
and even though he is right,
I draw and try to shoot him down,
cause, after all
mutiny on the first week is never
a good thing.
“Well, it shows us the cultural ideals…
The hero was what a man should be in that society.”
“But that isn’t our society…”
And he’s right…
We don’t have men willing to
humble themselves,
lay down their weapons,
and fight
bare-handed
because it is honorable.
Weakness hides
behind blue steel,
black powder,
and a trigger.
Cause that’s what
makes a man.
Or else it is six
on one
beat downs in hallways and
bathrooms.
Turbulent seas of baby blue…
as if cowardice has become
something to be strived for.
Boys sulk away from
obligations to new life like
an armless Grendel
to sink themselves deep
into the marshy fen of the
next naïve girl.
Father figures are
fading fast and
what remains are
simpletons
that tell our boys that
passing pills and
making money is
more manly than
doing right.
I want to defend the
planks of these
hall-my Herot,
Rip off my shirt and
stand bare-chested
“You want this place? You gotta get through me first.”
But I know that Beowulf dies
and I’m not sure that I’d take with me
the dragon that plagues our young men.
So I stand there, book in hand--
broken sword.
And fight a
question
that can’t be silenced
or answered
in 180 days.
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3 comments:
I really feel like I've heard this before but I am also crazy so...
I like the idea a lot. I would reconsider the line about the classroom becoming the OK corral just because it seems like a real departure from the tone of the rest of the piece. Maybe make it into a Beowulf reference instead, I dunno. Also, I kind of glossed over the "boys sulk away from obligations to new life" line and assumed it was about their own lives; it was on like the third reading that I realized what you actually meant. So maybe just be a little less cryptic there.
I'm with the Bowen on this one. There were a few lines that were cryptic to me, including the one about how Beowulf dies and you aren't sure if you'd take with you the dragons our young men carry. I don't think that reads as clearly as it needs to, and some of that might reflect a need for more specifics about these kids and what their lives are like. That might go well at the beginning when you're setting up their resistance to reading.
I'm glad you posted this. When you first did it at the swap slam prelim, I hoped it would be polished and made into something. It still should. Just sayin'.
"Weakness hides
behind blue steel,
black powder,
and a trigger.
Cause that’s what
makes a man."
I love that quote its my favorite from the entire peace.
"And he’s right…
We don’t have men willing to
humble themselves,
lay down their weapons,
and fight
bare-handed
because it is honorable."
I totally agree they don’t its not our society anymore.
Anyways I love this poem lots. But you should clarify some stuff.
What’s and ok corral
and what about the Beowulf dieing part I think you were trying to get across the fact that You couldn’t defeat the dragon but why couldn’t you?
And why couldn’t the question be answered in 180 days?
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