Strap on the armour, Xena (For Doeslittle)

Strap on the armour, Xena (28th February, 2009, 00.06am)

For Doeslittle

Arm yourself with gilded words
against imposters and pretenders,
just make sure of your punctuation,
your grammar and your spelling;
the teacher’s on the prowl, dear,
the time to write is now, for fear
we’re losing all our cherry talent;
the casualties are mounting up
and the stories just ain’t coming;
slash sarcasm with lemon-wit
and stir some sugar in the malice;
post a piece of prose, my sweet,
chuck in comments for a peer,
have your say while it’s hot, see -
don’t put your feet up, rise and cheer;
we’ll rib you and we’ll tease you
but we’ll never grind you down
and those of them that do, dear
don’t deserve your hallowed ground;
jealousy’s an ugly word, it’s green
and under-ripe, we’ll bandy it around
and see who takes a swipe tonight;
don’t let them bite your cherries, babe,
raise your sword of poetic sheen,
for you have the Pow-er, yes, you have
the balls to rip apart their spleen;
for this is not a boys’ club, old girl,
no, this is not a clique; so throw
another poem into the ring, love
and let them offer their critique;
it’s time to strap on the armour, Xena,
and ride into battle against the mean.

Jennifer Pickup