1630: The Bully | John Lee Clark
Warning: This poem is about bullying.
"The Bully"
John Lee Clark
We boys were marching up to Rodman Hall for supper and he stopped and I bumped into him
He whirled around and pointed at me and touched his lips with his middle finger and slicked it back over his head
I protested
He said yes you touch my butt
I said me not not see you accident
He said not believe you
Before breakfast next morning he saw me watching Gilligan's Island
He switched the channel
Hey
He laughed
Next morning he did the same thing
I said oh that better thank you
He frowned and pressed the remote
That interesting me like
Switch switch switch
Then Gilligan's Island was on again
I said no no not that awful boring please other other
He laughed and left Gilligan's Island on
One time I was in the shower room and a rocket of water slammed into me
Fire extinguisher
I couldn't see anything except for a baseball cap
It was his cap
I laughed and said more more feel good come on
His last year I was still learning the art of the white cane and sometimes got delayed tapping off course at night
One night I veered off between Noyes Hall and Frechette Hall and a boy offered his arm
I didn't know who until under a lamp I saw a baseball cap
Inside Frechette Hall I thanked him and he smiled
A few minutes later Gary Karow our houseparent came up to me and told me that the bully was so happy after helping me and maybe I should ask him next time I needed help
I never did
Some years later he drove down to Texas with a friend to help him pick up a pick up truck
On his way back alone it was twilight and he turned off his headlights and veered left into oncoming traffic
A car swerved in time
Another swerved
Then it was a truck that couldn't swerve and that baseball cap
John Lee Clark is both Deaf (born to an all-deaf family) and Blind (became so in adolescence). The word order of some of the lines (I said me not not see you accident) resembles the syntax of American Sign Language.
and the trees are naked and lonely/I keep trying to tell them/new leaves will come around in the spring/but you can't tell trees those things
"The Bully"
John Lee Clark
We boys were marching up to Rodman Hall for supper and he stopped and I bumped into him
He whirled around and pointed at me and touched his lips with his middle finger and slicked it back over his head
I protested
He said yes you touch my butt
I said me not not see you accident
He said not believe you
Before breakfast next morning he saw me watching Gilligan's Island
He switched the channel
Hey
He laughed
Next morning he did the same thing
I said oh that better thank you
He frowned and pressed the remote
That interesting me like
Switch switch switch
Then Gilligan's Island was on again
I said no no not that awful boring please other other
He laughed and left Gilligan's Island on
One time I was in the shower room and a rocket of water slammed into me
Fire extinguisher
I couldn't see anything except for a baseball cap
It was his cap
I laughed and said more more feel good come on
His last year I was still learning the art of the white cane and sometimes got delayed tapping off course at night
One night I veered off between Noyes Hall and Frechette Hall and a boy offered his arm
I didn't know who until under a lamp I saw a baseball cap
Inside Frechette Hall I thanked him and he smiled
A few minutes later Gary Karow our houseparent came up to me and told me that the bully was so happy after helping me and maybe I should ask him next time I needed help
I never did
Some years later he drove down to Texas with a friend to help him pick up a pick up truck
On his way back alone it was twilight and he turned off his headlights and veered left into oncoming traffic
A car swerved in time
Another swerved
Then it was a truck that couldn't swerve and that baseball cap
John Lee Clark is both Deaf (born to an all-deaf family) and Blind (became so in adolescence). The word order of some of the lines (I said me not not see you accident) resembles the syntax of American Sign Language.
and the trees are naked and lonely/I keep trying to tell them/new leaves will come around in the spring/but you can't tell trees those things