Caution this is not a fun blog post but it’s a true one from my heart.
Maggie is our hostess this week as she alternates with Lauren for the Throwback Thursday/ I Remember When series. This week’s prompt is: School Memories – Take this prompt wherever it leads you. Here are some suggestions to consider.
Who was your favorite teacher? What about your worst? Were you a member of any clubs? Did you attend homecoming or the prom? What was your favorite subject? Were you the perfect student or a troublemaker? What clothes were in style when you were in school? How did you get to school? Bus, walk, drive? Any extracurricular activities? What did you do for lunch? Did you attend football games or other sports? Did you attend school when corporal punishment was applied? Have a school photo you wish to share?
I wrote this poem on abuse at school by piers and teachers, in 2012. It is personal and I am not afraid to say so. My school days were among the worst days of my life. I was lucky in a way as there was no internet in my day, once I was home I was more or less safe.
It can be even worse these days as there is now cyber bullying so the poor victim cannot get away from it unless they cut themselves off completely from the modern appliances. In fact some people are Tolled after their death and so it is their family that carry on receiving the bullying.
It is abuse it should be stopped but the schools do not seem to be able to stop it !
It’s nothing less than abuse.
Rounded shoulders head hung down
Rounded shoulders head hung down why do they all make fun of me I am not a clown. Sitting in the row spiteful girls stick their pens in my legs. Teacher at the front she must never know, she wouldn’t help she treats me like dregs.
Following me nearly home, calling me mean names,in the playground I always stand alone they don’t pick me for their games. Opening my desk finding it’s been trashed , my text book been drawn in and my favourite doll has been smashed.
Mum tried her hardest but being the youngest of six my things did not get replaced they just got fixed. My plimsolls were the wrong colour they were black instead of white , I was hauled up on the stage, lectured in front of the school then had to stay on late that night. I just could not make it I could not win with staff and girls against me all I could do was just give in.
I met my boyfriend, and his friends did not like me because I spoke differently, I was from the posh school. They though I was rich, I was not I was just like them it would of made no difference if I’d let them know. When we were out or at a party they were pleasant to my face but if my guy was not there and behind my back the things they said were just a disgrace. They joined the line of teachers and my piers it makes me wonder now how I stood it for all those years.
I am not saying I no friends, no that would not be true. I did have friends and they were good but they were the very few. I always felt so ugly, too fat and too short and if anyone was nice to me I could not believe it. What do they want was my first thought.
Things got better when I started work I seemed to come out of my shell like a little butterfly I changed and put aside my days of living hell. They tell you, you don’t realize that school days are the best days of your life , thank God I never listened or I would of ended mine with a knife.
Thank God I grew away from all the pain but sometimes I see a face hear a voice or a name and it all floods back again. I am older now and have all that I could ask for, family and friends but sometimes my calm deserts me and confidence takes flight, fear and dark descends and I feel lost in the night. I ask the question now why children’s jibes and actions can be so mean and cruel. The worse days of my life were my years at school. I cry each time I read or hear on the news how children can hurt each other IT NOTHING LESS THAN ABUSE.
Dreams Standing On a ledge Fear, spider like Creeps closer to you Drenching you with cold sweat Paralysed you cannot move to The is no chance of escaping The blackness engulfs you and you drown Sinking to the depths of the black abyss.
Sunday is upon us again and it time Jim Adams to host Song Lyric Sunday. Today July 25 the prompt is – Automobile, Car, Jalopy, Vehicle suggested by Melanie B Cee of sparksfromacombustiblemind.
So I thought what shall I choose there are so many great tunes out there. I was taken back to 1979. We had escaped from Exmouth in Devon, we had not quite made it back home to London but we were back in the hub. Life with two out of what would end up as three boys was not so hard. I always had my music. Gary Newman , part of the new wave was right up my street. I didn’t drive in those days, I had to walk everywhere! This song was actually released on our eighth wedding anniversary!
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“Cars” is the debut solo single by English musician Gary Numan. It was released on 21 August 1979 and is from his debut studio album, The Pleasure Principle. The song reached the top of the charts in several countries, and today is considered a new wave staple.
The song was the first release credited solely to Gary Numan after he dropped the band name Tubeway Army, under which name he had released four singles and two LPs, including the number one UK hit “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?“, and its parent album, Replicas. Musically, the new song was somewhat lighter and more pop-oriented than its predecessors, Numan later conceding that he had chart success in mind: “This was the first time I had written a song with the intention of ‘maybe it could be a hit single’; I was writing this before ‘Are “Friends” Electric?’ happened.” He has since described “Cars” as “a pretty average song”.
In the UK charts, it reached number 1 in 1979, and in 1980 hit number 1 in Canada two weeks running on the RPM national singles chart (29 weeks in the top 100). It was his only single tochart there. It rose to #4 on the US Cash Box Top 100 and #9 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Though Numan had a string of hits in the UK, “Cars” was his only song in the American Pop charts.
Here in my car I feel safest of all I can lock all my doors It’s the only way to live in carsHere in my car I can only receive I can listen to you It keeps me stable for days in carsHere in my car Where the image breaks down Will you visit me please If I open my door in carsHere in my car I know I’ve started to think About leaving tonight Although nothing seems right in carsSource: Musixmatch.
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Jalopy was a harder until in the back of my mind I remembered this Connie Frances song Hollywood. I was very young but I had older brothers and sisters and music was always playing in our house.
Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (born December 12, 1937), known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, former actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Although her chart success waned in the second half of the 1960s, Francis remained a top concert draw. Information from Wikipedia
Whose jalopy is covered with junk But don’t have any money for lunch? It’s Hollywood, it’s HollywoodWho’s the local star With the big, fine car? It’s HollywoodWho wears the shady glasses after dark? Who tries to talk the little girlie’s into parking? It’s Hollywood, HollywoodWho’s the local yokel with The horn rimmed bifocals? It’s Hollywood Go, go, goWho else would hold a cigarette like that? Who else would wear a little Frenchy’s hat? No one but Hollywood, HollywoodWho thinks he’s been around But ain’t never been out of town? It’s HollywoodI’ll give you just one little guess At who old Hollywood’s trying to impress You’re right, it’s Hollywood, HollywoodWho’s that farmer Who think he’s a charmer? It’s HollywoodYeah, it’s Hollywood all right Here Hollywood, here’s a quarter Go buy yourself some, ah, continental pants Ascot, cigarette holder etc, etcSource: MusixmatchSongwriters: John D. Loudermilk.
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In the same year as the Gary Newman Track I heard Automobile by John Prime. It really could not of been any more different. The album Pink Cadillac blew my mind ..
John Edward Prine (October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American country folk singer-songwriter. He was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death, and was known for an often humorous style of original music that has elements of protest and social commentary.
Born and raised in Maywood, Illinois, Prine learned to play the guitar at the age of 14. He attended classes at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music. After serving in West Germany with the U.S. Army, he returned to Chicago in the late 1960s, where he worked as a mailman, writing and singing songs first as a hobby, and then becoming a club performer.
A member of Chicago’s folk revival, Prine credited film critic Roger Ebert and singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson with discovering him, resulting in the production of Prine’s eponymous debut album with Atlantic Records in 1971. The acclaim earned by this LP led Prine to focus on his musical career, and he recorded three more albums for Atlantic. He then signed with Asylum Records, where he recorded an additional three albums. In 1981, he co-founded Oh Boy Records, an independent record label with which he would release most of his subsequent albums.
Widely cited as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation, Prine was known for humorous lyrics about love, life, and current events, as well as serious songs with social commentary and songs that recollect melancholy tales from his life. In 2020, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Information from Wikipedia
February morning my car won’t start today I turned the key at 8: 03 And the battery passed away Inside a’ my automobileI want my automobile I want my automobile I want to drive it All around this worldBride’s gettin’ married in the springtime Widow’s gettin’ married in the fall I got married in high school Or I wouldn’t of got married at allI’d be drivin’ my automobile Be drivin’ my automobile Be drivin’ my automobile I wanna drive it all around this worldEverybody said to the new groom Groom, what ya gonna be I said, I’m gonna be a symphony Just as soon as I find a keyTo my automobile I want my automobile I want my automobile All around this worldLet’s take a rideColumbus sailed the ocean Moses parted the sea Dolores left me yesterday Well, I think she took the keyTo my automobile I want my automobile I want my automobile Wanna drive it all around this worldNow, I held a little bitty baby I held a woman all night Whenever I get the hiccups I hold my breath ’til my head gets lightThen, I drive my automobile Yeah, I drive my automobile I drive my automobile I’m want to drive it all around this worldFebruary morning, my car won’t start today Yeah, I turned the key at 8: 03 And the battery passed away Inside a’ my automobileI’m drivin’ my automobile Wanna my automobile Wanna drive it all around this world Go onIt is a beautiful day for a ride Hey, get your head down I can’t see anything Someone give me a cigarette I don’t want to take my hands off the wheelWe ought to take the air filter off this sucker So we can see what it will really do Uh oh, it looks to me like a hospital zone Everybody get quiet, shhDon’t wake the dead up We’re almost out, hang on, uh, oh here we go Well, you can just hold it until we get to the next townSource: Musixmatch.
Finally as I go here is Tracy Chapman with Fast Car for no other reason than I love it soooo much.
Since then, Chapman has experienced further success with six more studio albums, which include her multi-platinum fourth album, New Beginning, for which she won a fourth Grammy Award, for Best Rock Song, for its lead single “Give Me One Reason”. Chapman’s most recent album is Our Bright Future, released in 2008.
According to Metro Weekly critic Chris Gerard, “Fast Car” tells a grittily realistic story of a working poor woman trying to escape the cycle of poverty, set to folk rock music.The song’s arrangement was described by Orlando Sentinel writer Thom Duffy as “subtle folk-rock”,while Billboard magazine’s Gary Trust deemed the record a “folk/pop” song.Dave Marsh said it was perhaps an “optimistic folk-rock narrative”, whose characters are in a homeless shelter. Information from Wikipedia
Word on the street is change the rules. Masks not needed,but wear your mask. Get it wrong we’ll take you to task. Infection, running rife in schools. We’re fed dross from the mouths of fools. Ping , now you have to stay off work. Says the bloke in Peerage by Burke. We’ve lost our paddle up the creek. Now,’s not the time in faith to leap. Why are we trusting such a jerk?
I am dismayed at the state of our country at the moment, our leaders are rudderless.
For visually challenged writers, the image shows a collection of toy people all gathered around a sign with the word “Community” on it
Community – Image by KL Caley
Well 15 months on and still the pandemic was causing havoc. Most people had to work from home. For many this meant long days and nights alone with a computer screen. For Pete it had become depressing, soul destroying. He made sure he got out for at least an hour’s walk everyday, he used his exercise bike in the evening, had his shopping delivered and made sure he cooked good healthy food. When he could, he’d get out and meet friends…… That had been impossible during the early lockdowns. Things were finally beginning to come together and ease for now ( no one could be sure what the the next few weeks could bring.) Pete opened his daily meeting, only to be greeted by empty screens on mute. In the beginning everyone had been eager to join in the meetings, screens and sound on. Slowly they had all withdrawn. “Come on guys I am bending over backwards to help you guys… For pity’s sake cut me me some slack!” Pete shouted. Slowly screens filled with his techs and engineers and program architects. He smiled “hi guys we have the big boss joing us today!” Just then the boss appeared on his screen. “Right guys we want you all back in the office for the end of September, three days a week.” Pete could not control himself he jumped up clapping and cheering! It broke the ice everyone laughed! The boss smile and asked Pete was he pleased! Pete thanked goodness an end was in sight and that he’d got dressed properly this morning. Later that day when the team signed in for their next meeting they all looked askance at Pete’s square.. there was a white edged, grey, board with the word Community on it and infront a collection of five toy figures doing different things. After a second or two Pete’s face appeared….”that’s us guys we are a team, we are a community! Keep those screens on , unmute your devices. Let’s communicate let’s rebond.”
My Décima is linked to my entry for Ronovanwrite’s Weekly Haiku you can find it here. I have chosen a sad subject this week. Cohesive Abuse. It affects both men and women. We must be aware and not close our eyes to it.
Your cohesive behaviour Has me cowering in corners Fearing your return, such tortures.. Lost I submit to your power. Wilted buds, I’m a dead flower. You have cut me down blow by blow You eat my heart, I bleed out slow. You are everyone’s friend but mine Can’t please you, it’s a waste of time. Just us now , your venom will flow..
You may, if you wish, make some kind of link between the Haiku Challenge prompt of (you can find my Haiku here). and this Décima Challenge of GOLD in the A rhyme line. This means you could write a haiku post using the prompt words. Then do a Décima post using this week’s prompt uniting the two with a common message.
The 2 CHALLENGES are SEPARATE but CAN BE combined if YOU CHOOSE to do so. I chose to this week.
To all you appear to be gold. Ever ready to lend a hand. Always helpful, kindness your brand. Behind closed doors your eyes grow cold. The real you begins to unfold. Tempers flair and you become the beast. I fear your demons when released. Why do I keep your black secret. There is no escape just regret. I cower silent at your feast.
It’s time again for #SoCs and our host LindaGHill said: “Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “oop.” Find a word with the “oop” sound in it and use it in your post. Enjoy!”
Oops I’ve done it again!
So what can I say I seen to bumble through life making the same mistakes over and over, forever jumping through hoops. It’s like an never ending loop, I troop on trying to cope.
I just think I am doing well when I make another bloop and in all my troubles swoop. As ever I end up in the dog poop. So it’s farewell from me the nincompoop.
Well that’s enough of me … Here is an Acrostic Poem to finish off!
Acrostic Oops.
Oops life takes an odd turn Only I repeat all my mistakes. Plainly I watch my plans burn. Swinging on the hoopla that life takes.
