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Spitting at Bus Stops

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Graffiti under a bridge: a cock; kev luvs liz.

Bodies half developed, tufts of pubic hair,

and they need to check if their penis is still there.

 

A fast food job to top up their EMA.

Getting away with as little as they can,

taking the fight, on the streets, to the man.

 

A cap on a head, not worn backwards anymore,

an ASBO sewn violently on a sleeve

the one thing they are proud to achieve.

 

They’re spitting at bus stops again,

too much phlegm, too much phlegm.

 

They once had ambition, aimed for the skies

but now they fall yards from their birthplace;

the world not an oyster, just a blank space.

 

Lives uneventful, creating their dramas

from pixels and mobiles, gossip and tweets.

Cider, lager, Jägermeister and sweets.

 

Without a Father’s stern hand,

without a Mother’s sympathetic embrace,

all they want is encouragement and praise.

 

But they know not how to ask or to show.

Demonised by the media, the government and all,

let’s help them, not kick them when they fall.

 

And were we that much different back then?

Hanging on corners like crows,

an area in town a no-go?

 

What prospect befits our next generation?

Careers disappeared, we now call them NEET.

On the years yet to live they’ll have us beat.

 

Not all of them fall, some soar to the stars,

some join the army, some continue their learning,

some have a passion, the right stimulus, a yearning.

 

But will they be nostalgic for Xbox and quick fucks?

Like we are for the music and our first loves?

There is no solution I can think of...

 

They’re spitting at bus stops again,

too much phlegm, too much phlegm, too much phlegm.

john togherspitting at bus stops

◄ Memory Sketch of Adolescence Part One

Keeping The Scent Of Insignificance From The Door ►

Comments

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Julian (Admin)

Sun 17th Apr 2011 15:38

I don't think cans had been invented...

We had tins though.

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Isobel

Sun 17th Apr 2011 01:02

So you were lucky enough to have a cycle eh? I didn't get one of those till I was around 12...

We did make great entertainment with old beer tins though - can you remember threading strings through them and making home made stilts? They could also be used for 'Kick the can and hop it'. I also remember my brother convincing all the kids in the neigbourhood that we could make gold out of pulverised brick dust. He had us all at it for days. That's how we kept out of trouble. WIs and Playstation have definitely taken away the imaginative games. Someone else is doing the thinking for our kids - it's really not good. If you want to think big as an adult, you have to start thinking big as a child. But that makes me sound pretty ancient.

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Julian (Admin)

Sat 16th Apr 2011 19:31

I disagree Isobel. As a kid my cycle was always broken and that was not a good thing to see.

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Isobel

Fri 15th Apr 2011 19:05

Hi Laura – I’m sure your daughter is lovely. My comments were provocative. I do that when I’m bored which unfortunately happens often.

I think that as a race we simply reproduce and stay alive too well at all levels of society. That probably sounds rich coming from someone with 4 kids. I just feel oppressed by the number of people around at times. There are no easy answers cos no-one wants to die and survival instincts are hardwired into us. Once they crack the aging gene – we won’t even have to grow old – happy days eh? I should write a poem about it.

I accept also that you can't blame parents for everything a child does. I know lovely parents whose kids just went off the rails - peer group is something to worry about. I think you are right about cycles though. Very often bad cycles are repeated. It is good to see cases where the cycle is broken.

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Jon

Thu 14th Apr 2011 16:18

Good poem John;interesting comments about behaviour and upbringing from other poets too.
Maybe some people can't/won't be helped,whilst others unknowingly act the way they do due to the environment they were raised in?

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John Togher

Thu 14th Apr 2011 13:00

Cheers for the recommendation Rachel, I'll get on it ;)

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Laura Taylor

Thu 14th Apr 2011 10:03

*puts Rachel on ignore*

Isobel - red rag accepted ;p I remained a nightmare into my 20s, and it was only when I had my daughter at 23 that I actually settled down. There's some other stuff involved, but it wasn't just down to my intellect, unfortunately. So according to your logic, I shouldn't have reproduced. But I did, and not only did I 'improve', I introduced a hugely polite, considerate and caring person (my daughter) to the rest of society.

I think most people who behave 'badly' do so because of a cycle being repeated. Bullies and psychos, in my experience, have suffered themselves.

I'll give you the luck bit though - cos sometimes, that does come into play ;)

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Andy N

Thu 14th Apr 2011 08:09

some interesting points raised here regarding the youth in wigan.. last time i was there the other year - ended up watching man city get beat wigan and ended up on the train going back with john oddly enough when the city fans made a right unholy racket and set a fire exchingser if my memory is correct during the journey.. fun days..

john - your poem to summed up those memories for me and i love the way it comes full circle.

generally for the record i was a good kid (had a bad time at secondary school thou) - all went wrong for me when i started going to the pub when i was 17 and generally started going out! lol

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Rachel Bond

Wed 13th Apr 2011 18:10

'i was an nightmare teenager and i turned out ok' this laura lovely is debatable. ;)

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Rachel Bond

Wed 13th Apr 2011 18:07

you could try watching 'slutty girl gets f*cked at a bus stop'Starring Kerri Sable good example of that quick f*ck nostalgia ;)

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Isobel

Wed 13th Apr 2011 17:04

Perhaps there is an element of luck in how we all turn out. You are an intelligent woman who can think for herself Laura - also a strong one that doesn't go with the flow - that probably helps.

I have no answers about over population. I just wish that anti-social hooligans didn't reproduce. The odds say they are likely to produce more anti social hooligans. I realise this is like waving a red rag to the proverbial bull - but so be it :)

John - you probably turned out OK because you had parents who cared enough to worry about the bad influence of other kids. I'm not saying that you aren't an intelligent man who can't think for himself, mind...

I'd agree with Julian about the absence of identity/jobs/careers being a problem also. It's sad that we should all rely on labour for a sense of identity isn't it? Being occupied certainly gets you into less trouble though - also keeps depression and lack of purpose at bay...

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Laura Taylor

Wed 13th Apr 2011 16:12

Isobel - back in the early 80s, we had a local youth club, with pool tables etc. Know what we did? Threw pool balls at each other and broke the cues over each other. My daughter and her mates are WAY more polite and sociable than we ever were, and they have nowhere like that to go, and no facilities at all.

Less youths being born...got a plan for that?

In my experience, teenagers enjoy being social pariahs, and actively seek out places in which to behave as such.

Last thing - I was a nightmare teenager, and I turned out alright in the end. ;)

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Julian (Admin)

Wed 13th Apr 2011 15:59

More than one in every five young people is out of work; almost a million of them:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/apr/13/unemployment-fifth-young-people-jobless

Timely, apposite and some good lines, John:

Not all of them fall, some soar to the stars,
some join the army, some continue their learning,
some have a passion, the right stimulus, a yearning.

Motivation is the key to learning, the key to that drive, that passion you mention. The lack of an appropriate identity is one of the key determinants of their lack of ambition. What are they? Boys? Men? Girls? Women? NEETs? What can they become? If we don't have anything in the way of an identity (jobs being a strong one for boys/men) to offer them, where is their status, their identity to come from?

Good one, John.

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John Togher

Wed 13th Apr 2011 15:26

No students in at work today. I think I must be missing them...

Cheers for comments.

I was recently made aware of a childhood friend who is now in jail and we used to hang around on street corners, cause trouble, etc, with my parents saying what a bad influence he was.

I'm not sure what it was, maybe a decent education (we went to different schools), that caused us to take different paths in life. Ah well, back to some marking.

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Isobel

Wed 13th Apr 2011 15:22

More facilities to occupy youths - less youths being born - that might help.

There used to be more youth clubs around when I was younger - but such places rely on voluntary workers who enjoy working with young people...

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Isobel

Wed 13th Apr 2011 15:11

No - for me it wasn't - and that had nothing to do with money - just upbringing. Something seems to have gone very wrong somewhere. The older generation of Wiganers are lovely - the warmest people you could come across. There is a roughness, a lack of discipline around now that is a bit depressing. If it's always been there, perhaps it is more obvious now cos society/schools are less disciplined now - also there are more people around now - the world is busier.
Went to Southport beach this week with the kids and was stunned by the litter - empty beer bottles and shit that people had left behind. There seems to be a complete lack of respect for the environment or for other people. It doesn't happen to this degree abroad - the beaches in Australia were spotless and kids just don't drop stuff where they feel like it - or spit - not sure what the answer is or if there is one.

Rant over - good poem - it sums up a lot of society's problems - in a sympathetic non-judgmental way.

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Laura Taylor

Wed 13th Apr 2011 14:30

I find there's usually very little actual phlegm, but way too much bubbly saliva. That constant spit spit spitting that they do, raining down tiny droplets in a square foot of space.

You're right though - we were exactly the same. Getting moved on by the coppers was a regular occurrence for us.

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