Finessing Zero Tolerance (February 6, 2019)

Soul filled with ignorance and hate

Lashing out at specific targets

Dismissed: boys being boys

Generating another cycle

Silently endured

Harmed.

Healing

Speaking out

Breaking the circle

Starting with children's parents

Breaking down the cultural differences

Filling children with knowledge and compassion.

Last line of defense against abusers

In dealing with young children

Age appropriate punishment response

Using outright expulsion

No one

Wins.

Therisa © 2019

Author's note: As many people know, I have experienced bullying/abusive behaviour, for most of my life, as reflected in my poetry. This may shock some people, but I have trouble applying zero tolerance policy to children, who are strongly influenced by their parents' attitudes, (religious beliefs) and behaviour. I think that society has swing too far, in the other direction, in the punishing of these abusive kids. Who, in many cases, are the victims of abuse/bullying, themselves. How we judge and punish these children, must be flexible and fitting to the crime committed. One size fit all, only creates a harmful environment that these zero tolerance policies are trying to eliminate. Local board policy should act, as a guideline for state/provincial/territorial legislation, in handle these types of crime of power.

This experimental poetic form, I am thinking of calling it, "roller coaster". It breaks down, in the following stanzas:

1st stanza:  6 words/5 words/4 words/3 words/2 words/1 word

2nd stanza: 1 word/2 words/3 words/4 words/5 words/6 words

3rd stanza:  6 words/5 words/4 words/3 words/2 words/1 word

Three stanzas for a total of 63 words.

Written for Poets United's midweek motif, using the word prompt of: zero tolerance.

Selling Our Souls, For A Handful Of Coins (February 4, 2019)

Another cycle Has come and past As we await our salvation From ourselves. Depending Where one lives We're either frying Under extreme heat Like a plump sausage As Australia is. Or frozen solid Like bland tasteless tv dinners Brutally experienced  By most North Americans In the dyng moments Of January 2019. While we continue  To argue Seating arrangement. Our cruise ship sinks Ever deeper Into the deadly waters Of global warming. Elected governments Vaingloriously proclaim Their destructive intentions To the environment For a fast dollar Or two. In their shortsighted greed Appeasing financial And political supporters Whose bank accounts They now feed. Turning a willful blind eye To the physical evidence As various species Of plants and animals Become extinct. Some cases Overnight. What point Do we realize Our actions are Killing us Ever so slowly. Is it too late As the planetary lungs Are recklessly harvested For another hectare Of short-term pasture land. Else Latest slash and burn victim Feeding western society Growing dietary demands For plant-based foods. Knowing Once destroyed We can never replace These global lungs. Therisa © 2019