The Party Line
By Beverly Greene
This poem is dedicated to C. You know who you are and why!
By Beverly Greene
This poem is dedicated to C. You know who you are and why!
NOTE: This poem is protected by international copyright laws and may NOT be reproduced in any form without Beverly Greene's expressed and written consent.
Tell me,
did it make you
feel good about yourself
to be a bully?
Did beating your little sister
make you feel tough?
Did you get some perverse
pleasure from watching
her fingernail fall off
as she worried if she
would lose the tip
of her finger,
where your teeth marks
remained for a week?
Did you delight in the terror
of a small child?
Oh, but of course,
it didn't really happen, right?
Oh, wait!
It was all my fault!
No, wait,
I gave as good
as I got, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I've heard it all before.
The abuser's party line.
'Wasn't MY fault.'
'Didn't really happen.'
'You made me do it.'
'I couldn't control myself.'
Isn't that the same old
story told by millions
of abusers everyday?
Come on!
After everything that you
put me through,
I should at least
deserve a little creativity
in your pathetic excuses!
Maybe....
Elvis made you do it?
Aliens abducted you -
and implanted something
unidentifiable
in the back of your neck
that left you incapable
of controlling your rage?
Or maybe you can
use that same excuse
as that one guy
who said he killed
because he ate
too many Twinkies.
I always found
that one to be amusing!
Maybe the neighbor's dog
told you to do it
or Satan came into
your dreams and controlled you
while you were sleepwalking!
Maybe you had an imbalance
of that violence-causing testosterone
or could it have been
undiagnosed depression?
Maybe you had to defend
yourself from me -
the not-so-secret CIA agent
hell-bent on ruining your life.
And let's not forget
the ET transmissions
invading your brain waves
or the unknown effects
of the MSG from last night's
chicken chow mien!
And, of course, there was
that time when you saw a kid
get a very nasty hangnail
on that evil TV show!
And who could forget
that you were exposed
to second-hand smoke
and given too much sugar
as a young child!
And don't forget
that family photo
where you had a pimple,
forever changing
your ability to think
rationally or cope
with any real-life issues.
And, of course,
your body is less
than absolutely perfect
and we ALL know
what THAT means
in today's society!
Yeah, yeah, yeah...
Society sucks...
Bad parenting...
Violence on TV...
Hyperactivity...
Improper diet...
Come on!
Give me something
other than the party line!
It's getting rather boring!
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� 2000 Beverly Greene owns all rights to this original poem.
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