We see them at school, work or home. They have problems. Draft Late poem meant for April |
Young Parker was school’s big bad bully, He made girls cry by teasing them in school He liked the payoff of hurting them daily And their tears made him laugh and feel cool. The teachers and parents were worried Discipline problems were bad every day Yet Parker ignored adult suggestions In the lunchroom he chose someone to be his next prey. Parker sat down one day to talk to a teacher He admitted his life was not all that good. He hated his clothes he got from his brother And the charity store in his neighborhood. His father would call TV people bad names And make fun of the people at his job His father would look at his children so critically And would shake his head and call them a slob. The teacher helped Parker feel better She asked his mother to buy him new clothes The parents were alerted to Parker’s insulting language And would limit his time with violent, foul shows. His mother would look at his report card She would comment on his recent homework She knew that school was much harder And his older brother could review some homework The class would be working on projects Each team would be assigned special parts The parts would be rotated weekly The worker’s name was printed on a big chart. Things began to be better slowly The teacher noticed the class had more smiles And Parker gave her a card that said “Thank you.” The meeting with his parents was worthwhile. |