Suburban Adolescence
I remember the horrors of being young & how school was
More a case of survival rather than any kind of education
Apart from keeping your head down & trying to just get
On through but as I stood out, head & shoulders over my
Classmates from about 9 years old, it became hard, hell
Who we kidding let’s just say impossible.
By the time I left primary school I’d developed a
Nemesis, some fucker who had the gall to send a friend
Request when the whole world went online, with whom
I’d fought almost every single lunchtime for a good
Couple of years already & all cos I was some kind
Of commie rat who deserved my kicking.
But if I thought that was bad big school was somehow
Even worse. I was taller still, now bigger even that the
Majority of my teachers, and stood out even more &
Somehow the fights got more regular as my nemesis
Came with me & soon developed a gang of like-minded
Fools who loved their Queen & country but somehow
They were soon forgotten.
Another gang came & their hate came raw & straight
For my jugular as these fuckers didn’t even go to class,
Just hanging at the back of the school until break-time
Came & their terror campaign could start all over
Again but somehow I survived even when they came
On bikes & gave chase from school almost all the
Way to our god-damn front door, which for once
I was grateful stood behind an entry-phone system.
But once they’d moved on school became great as
The only people there wanted to be there & wanted
To learn just like I did & somehow I fell in love
With it & never gave up school until I was 35 with
Three degrees & a lifetime of memories of all the
Great minds I’ve met & best of all I can’t even
Remember any of those horrible bullies’ names.
© Bradford Middleton
Bradford Middleton lives in Brighton, UK. Recent poems of his have featured at The Literary Underground, Beach Chair Press’s Fred Voss tribute, Yellow Mama, Mad Swirl, Beatnik Cowboy, and in The Good Press’s The Paper. His debut poetry collection is currently doing the rounds of various small press publishers.
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