Put up shut up or knuckle under
Step up now and feel my thunder
You may think that I'm quite the clown
That all ends when I knock you down
They all call me the Master Blaster
Iron fists of fast disaster
A local legend some might say
More bumps and bruises on the way
I'll be standing tall while you're beneath
It's hard to speak with no front teeth
There won't be much left when I'm through
Just ask your brother he'll tell you
Just back from lunch,
On your desk there's a bunch
Of data to crunch.
You set right down to it,
But before you get through it,
You find yourself not wanting to do it.
"What's wrong?" you may wonder,
As you quickly knuckle under
To the tempting caresses of slumber.
We're just not meant to work
When in us there lurk
Directives and deadlines to shirk.
Some Day I’m Coming Back
The things that made us who we are
aren’t written in a book
nor do the things they gave us
equal what they took.
Hands that rocked the cradle
soon left welts behind
the harshness of their laughter
made it less than kind.
Priest at Sunday dinner
guest at a meal he’s leeching
washed down with Irish whiskey
and the ******** that he’s preaching
of the sacred and the pious
and all the souls he saves,
bite your cheek and do not utter,
kiss their ass though they are knaves.
Walk the streets in other’s clothing
knowing that it once was new,
bear the brunt of other’s laughing
at the coat and not at you.
Grit your teeth and sheath your anger
for you must be kind and meek
when just once you’d like to give them
the beating that they seek.
Harden heart and nerve and sinew
refuse to knuckle under
protect whatever’s left
from the hands of gods that plunder.
Savor freedom’s single breath
view escape through dungeon’s crack
holding tight to rage’s mantra
“some day I’m coming back”.
John G. Lawless
for Vicky Tsiluma
contest – I’ll Be Back
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.