Monday, June 14, 2010

poem of the day 06.14.10

bullies and bullshit

he points over his little friend
he tells me that he’s bringing
his 22 year-old brother down here to kick my ass

i want to laugh because it’s so ridiculous
because i’m slowly crawling toward forty
and i still have teenagers threatening to have me beaten up

he reminds me of this group of punks
who used to chase me home from school

they went to public school
i went to catholic school

every day their bus would ride by us on the way home
they would shout insults or throw soda cans out the window
make idle threats from their ripped pleather seats

it was comical in a way

i felt more important in those moments
than i did at any other time in my miserable youth

one day the idea struck me to engage them
when their bus rode by and the middle fingers came out
and the soda cans came sailing over our heads

i decided to give them guys my middle finger
i gave them the breadbasket too
putting both hands at the side of my cock
just pumping away

what a response i got

there must’ve been twenty of them that got off the bus that day

burnout kids with long hair and jean jackets
with shitty bands sewn into the denim

the came at me like an angry mob
shouting and pushing and making idle threats
only the torches were missing

they were ugly kids with ugly rat-haired girlfriends
they said that they were going to kick my ass
but no one threw a punch

twenty guys on one fat kid and his younger brother

they did this for days
getting off the bus and chasing me and my brother home
but nothing ever happened

still my mother had to call the public school

the burnout kids were all dragged into the principal’s office
and told to leave me alone

i was dragged into my principal’s office
and told not to antagonize the public school kids anymore

after that it got quiet

no more insults when their bus came by
no more soda cans flying out the window
just mean stares and a lot of pointing

i still got the finger though

but it just wasn’t the same between all of us

again, he points over his little friend
as he walks down the street on a hot ugly day
i’m going to get my 22 year-old brother
to come down here and kick your ass, he tells me

that’s fine, i say

bring him down
i’ve been missing the good old days
you little motherfucker

and i haven’t given someone the breadbasket in years

5 comments:

Carol Blackburn said...

Enjoyed reading your poem very much. Your talent is evident.

John Grochalski said...

thank you very much, carol.

Unknown said...

man... your stuff conjures so many memories. I, too, did the catholic school thing and "the public school kids" made me hate life. Another great one, john.

S.L. Corsua said...

In the realm of flashback poems, this is priceless. The lines "i felt more important in those moments / than i did at any other time in my miserable youth" is A-grade hindsight. Thanks for sharing. I had oodles of fun reading it. Cheers.

John Grochalski said...

thank you all...i see some us shared "wonderful" childhoods.