If You Want A Boxer
This was written off of the lyric and verse challenge prompt on Poets Who Blog Interactive. The prompt was to write a poem with the first line being any lyric in the Leonard Cohen song, “I’m Your Man”. WARNING: this one is quite bitter and caustic. If you’re not in the mood for this, come back and read another day.
-Nicole
If you want a boxer, then why don’t you
go punch someone else? My skin is not
a leather casing which contains a few
million grains of sand inside! You forgot
that I stand before you as a human,
bruised, battered, sore from all the times you got
angry and I was the first one to stand
in your way. Don’t give me that bloody rot
about how I supposedly made you
lose your religion: believe me, I’ve got
your number now, and I now know that you
have no self-control. I’ve taken a lot
of abuse from you, but no more. Time’s up.
I’m not listening anymore, so shut up.
Written 6/12/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.
Wow. That’s intense. I love that the narrator is taking a stand.
This is my favorite line in it
Don’t give me that bloody rot
about how I supposedly made you
lose your religion
i am not that powerful…. it came to me one night when i was being beaten by a man that continued to scream….”look what you are making me do!!” as he blackened my eyes and broke my nose.. those words i am not that powerful have been with me every day since then,… they are a source of power within me…
this is a very excellent piece….
Thank you, both of you. It has taken me 13 years to build up the courage and work through issues…to the point where I could finally write this poem. I think, though, this is for anybody who has ever gone through abuse, whether from a parent, another relative (as was in my case), a lover/spouse, or anyone. Eventually, the courage and strength will come. I only regret that the person who this is addressed to isn’t alive for me to tell these words to her very face.
-Nicole