Poetry Challenge: Save Our Children
Recently, I read two stories in the news about flagrant cases of child abuse. One was a 4 year old little boy who was forced to run naked in the streets of New York City in nothing but his underwear. What made this abuse even worse was the fact that the little boys father thought it would be funny to video tape this abuse, and the video made it on YouTube. The other incident involved the father of an 8 year old boy who thought throwing his child off a boat into a harbor full of other large ships would be an example of good parenting. Both of these stories made me furious as I am a father of 5 children, and the thought of hurting my kids disgusts me.
For this poetry challenge, I want to center the theme around child abuse. I hope the attention this challenge receives will help to spread awareness on child abuse, and maybe we can all make a difference in the lives of children in need. This will be a free form challenge so any kind of creative writing will be accepted. The important thing is to really help spread the word around, and get as many people involved in this challenge as possible. For that reason, I am setting up the following guidelines.
1) All poets who participate in this challenge will post the link for their contribution in the comments section of this challenge.
2) If you are contributing a piece, please give feedback to all the other writers who share.
3) This should go without saying, but please be respectful of the other writers who share their work.
4) Anyone who reads this challenge, please visit often as this challenge will be running till February 16, 2012.
5) This challenge will close Feb. 16, 2012. Everyone who makes this date will be included in the results article for this challenge.
6) This is really important. I ask all poets who contribute work to please post the phone # to a local abuse hotline in your area, and please include a message asking anyone who witnesses a form of child abuse to call this number.
Child abuse is a serious crime which can scar a child for the rest of his life. If you are a witness to child abuse please report the incident immediately to 1-800-4-A-CHILD.
