"Revenge of The Bad"
September 03, 2001, 11:51 p.m.

This is a Poetic Voices Collab project.

September 2001 Project:

Write a poem on any topic as a *Pantoum

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Revenge of The Bad; A Pantoum

We rode up and down in elevators, floor to floor
from the lobby of a fancy new hotel uptown.
Playing hide and seek, going up and down, door to door
riding elevators from the top floor to the ground.

In the lobby of the fancy new hotel uptown
we were bored, and we only wanted to have some fun,
riding elevators from the top floor to the ground.
But then, guests complained to the manager, Mr. Crumm.

We were so bored. We only wanted to have some fun.
Mom and Dad were at a convention and we were free.
But then, guests complained to the manager! Mr. Crumm -
was mad, said we were bad and grabbed my brother and me.

Mom and Dad were at the convention. So we were free
to play in the hotel since there was nothing to do.
He was mad! He was bad! To grab my brother and me!
Mr. Crumm was a meany, so we both got mad too.

To play in the hotel, since there was nothing to do,
we had such fun going up - going down, in a way.
But Mr. Crumm was a meany and got us mad too -
So we snuck about and found another way to play.

Soon we had fun! Going up - going down, every way.
Sticking bubblegum in the key-hole of every door.
Oh we snuck about - we found another way to play -
that'll show Mr. Crumm not to grab us anymore.

Sticking bubblegum in the key-hole of every door -
and in the lobby - that fancy new hotel uptown!
That'll show Mr. Crumm not to grab us anymore!
We rode up and down in elevators, floor to floor.

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This pantoum was written about an experience my brother and I both had while we were children.

Although we were not left alone by our parents, we were left in the care of our older teen-age sister who had a hard time keeping up with us.

In this poem the children sought revenge for being grabbed by the mean hotel manager. My brother and I never did seek revenge. We thought about it though and we really wanted to, just so we could prove how bad we really could be, but we knew better - and now I'm glad we didn't do a thing about it.

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*A pantoum is a poem that comes in quatrains (four line stanzas). Each line repeats in a pattern. The second and fourth lines of each stanza become the first and third lines of the next. To end a pantoum, you must repeat the third and first lines of the first stanza as the second and fourth lines respectively, of the last stanza.