Obit.

Are kids too precocious today, experiencing too much before life has really begun...

Jennifer Absalom Maudlin-Mand

Passed away yesterday, by her own hand,

Scribbled a note to be found once she'd done it,

'Please put the strawberries back in the punnet!

I am so weary of life and the living,

Tell all my friends, it's all right! I forgive them!'

 

Jennifer penned all her poetry passé,

Lolled all her life on the lawn, on the grassé,

Painted her pictures from life in the nuddy,

Rolled in the puddles and made herself muddy,

Nothing survives of her art or her passion,

Only stained clothes that she rolled in the grass on.

 

'Wealth is a burden!' was one of her utters,

'Time is so tedious!' 'Love is for nutters!'

'I am so jaded with cell phones and gadgets,

Emails and sea sails, and that poet, Paget,

I have done everything, been there and spent it,

Now I look forward, I'm planning to end it.'

 

Jennifer Absalom Maudlin-Mand

Passed away yesterday, by her own hand,

Stuck her two fingers inside a light socket,

Flashed once and screamed, the delightful Miss Muppet,

If she had waited to pass on to heaven,

Today was her birthday, she would have been seven!

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Wulfstan Crumble]

impeccable rhyming and a good dose of humour for a very sad subject in reality. A nice hint of self-deprecation also. It does make me think of the spate of suicides in Brigend, Wales where the reasons seem to be absent of reality. Anyway, a delightfully mocking poem.

[Raef C. Boylan]

You've handled this important and depressing subject really impressively, carving it up with Satire's sharp edge, leading the reader in slowly. Well, I say slowly when technically you launch us straight into the situation, but we aren't aware of how young she is until near the end, which kind of changes the meaning of the whole piece.

What kids would say if they had the vocabulary and foresight, maybe?
What kids would do...s**t, perhaps.
Kids younger than 10 are rarely given credit when having taken their own lives; it's called an accident - but I imagine there are a few out there who were merely smart and sensitive enough to realise that the world is not a great place to grow up.

Good rhyming, making it seem light-hearted, so more readers should be initially attracted to it and absorb the message.

Thanks for posting this one.

[Chloe Madison Taylor.]

Jesus.
seeing as I am still a kid technically, I guess we do grow up too fast.
she didnt seem too depressed for a girl that died by her own hand.

[Melissa]

I agree that kids today are growing up way too fast. It's as if their innocence is stolen right after they're born. I see kids that are five that have cell phones, it's a sad sight.