Featured Poem for April 2013 - 'I Am' by Terry Caffrey

('I Am' is an award-winning poem as voted by children in care in the North West of England)

I am the child  -  I am a product of what you make me.

I am like broken biscuits at the bottom of a tin

The squeezed-out teabag thrown into the bin

The leftovers on your plate

The dirt under your fingernails 'cos your giros arrived late

I am the knot in your lace

The hand that slaps the face

I am the pudding in your kicking boots

The turnip pulled out by its roots

The shredder for your cheese

A victim you hurt and tease

I am a child, I am a product of what you make me

I am the worked-out homework ripped to tatters

The staring child whose jaw bone shatters

I am the pancake tossed up to the ceiling

The whisky breath that acts without feeling

I am the lager in your belly, the cocaine in your snort

The filthy dirty bed, the child the world forgot

I am the bad Santa in December

Have more uncles than can remember

I am a child, a product of your swearing and cigarette smoke

Bullied into a corner, beaten senseless for a joke

I am a child unwanted and abused -

Hungry to be loved but left alone and confused

So small I can't reach the light switch,

In the dark, the door handle above my head

Fear behind my eyes and I'm wishing I was dead

I am a child, I am a product of what you make me.

© Terry Caffrey 2013
Please do not use without the poet’s permission.

For further information about Terry Caffrey and his work please visit Terry's page here.