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A Policeman's Lament

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This poem is true and it is cathartic for me to write it. Not all my work is bleak but this needed to be told as the futility of a broken society is not commented on through poetry as much as it should be. It appears to me that a great deal of writing and prose appears to be a subjective and romanticised version of events and I feel there is a place for what I call "reality verse."

 

A POLICEMAN'S LAMENT

 

Broke into a house the other day, my police buddy and me

Saw a dead girl on the floor she must have been about 23

 

Her face was upturned, looking my way, her eyes staring at me

I could see by the track marks on her arms, it must have been a drugs OD

 

Oh woe is me! Oh woe is me!  Picking up the pieces for a broken society

What can I do? What can I say? Just clean it up and move it away

 

I get paid by the public and the police authority

To do the dirty job that the public don't want to see

 

Whilst the judges and politicians live in their ivory towers

They never see the carnage, they just while away the hours

 

They're oblivious to the cancer in our society

Where drugs and random violence stop the people being free

 

Oh woe is me! Oh woe is me! Picking up the pieces for a broken society

What can you do? What can you say? Just clean it all up and move it away.

 

Just clean it all up and move it away.

Rea Life

GRIEF VOYEUR ►

Comments

Pete Crompton

Fri 15th Jan 2010 23:22

Im with the others on these replies.
I personally prefer to read this style of poetry where the author is 1st hand, rather than poetic exercises that try and be a way of proving a style or other, its all about the pure emotion for me, I think that you should write as much as you feel, I'm especially interested in 'front line' experiences like what you have written about here, i know that Mike (who replies on this thread) has seen front line action and I reccommend a browse thru the many blogs on here.

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Tommy Carroll

Thu 14th Jan 2010 18:20

Hi Neil, Welcome. There is a lot more 'real poetry' out there Neil than you may imagine, this site has a considerable amount of it, check the writer's various blogs.
Tommy- : )

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Noetic-fret!

Thu 14th Jan 2010 13:23

Hi neil, it is right for you to express your feelings about events from your past, no matter what role you played. It is sad, that many years ago, people really did trust and respect the boys in blue, but that society is so divisive now, that much of that trust has gone. All too often many people fear the police, yet when dirty work has to be done they are the first to be called upon. My heart goes out to you for the horrors that you have endured. Thank you for sharing this with us.

Stay well

Mike

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