Letter To A Playground Bullying

The poem Letter to a Playground Bully from Andrea age eight and a half is a poem about bullying. Direct bullying on Andrea herself as seen in the line “but you absolutely missed when you told the class I have head lice” (8) as well as “so no, I am not “always crying” (28) that shows that she is bothered by the bullying from the child. The poem delves further into the bullying by having Andrea herself try to justify why the bully is acting the way they are. In the lines “I know some people get a whole lot of rocking in the rocking chair and the ones who don’t sometimes get rocks in their voice boxes, and their voice boxes become slingshots” she is saying that perhaps the bully didn’t get a lot of attention and love as a small child and is now taking it out on others, by trying to hurt them. She also tries to justify their actions by saying that perhaps their father is abusive or neglectful in his behaviour of the bully in the lines “some people’s fathers are like attics I’ve heard attics have monsters in their walls and shaky stares” (41-42).

There are those that are bullied, the bullies themselves and then perhaps the largest group, the bystanders. I have experienced the bullying of others, and I have also stood back as others have been bullied. I must admit, I felt relief as I stood back and watched as the bullies decided to “pick on someone else” for a change. I also felt the need to stand up for the other kid being bullied. This as you can guess, never went well as inevitably the bullying was turned back on to me and unfortunately the other kid being bullied felt the relief of their attention being turned back on me. I like how Andrea says that she would help even the playing field by “if I ever have my own team I am picking everyone first even the worst kid and the kid with the stutter like a skipping record ‘cause I know all of us are scratched”