Peter Raynard’s poem is inspired by the shocking statistic that 12 men a day kill themselves in the UK.

 

—This is article #67 in our series of #100Voices4Men and boys 

 

Man Up, Man Down

One only ever got As at school
Two got expelled yet was nobody’s fool

Three fell out with his virtual world
Four fell out with his only girl

Five fought too long on foreign sand
Six couldn’t keep paying with cash in hand

Seven kept house, kept kids, kept calm
Eight cut a hundred lines on his arm

Nine had a lifelong wife that died
Ten was a man that never cried

Eleven was a man who everyone loved
Twelve was a man who’d had enough

It is fine to rhyme and be poetic
But twelve men down a day is tragic

—Picture credit: Elvert Barnes 

 

You can follow Peter Raynard on Twitter: @peter_raynard or @proletarianpoet

You can find all of the #100Voices4Men articles that will be published in the run up to International Men’s Day 2014 by clicking on this link—#100Voices4Men—and follow the discussion on twitter by searching for #100Voices4Men.

The views expressed in these articles are not the views of insideMAN editorial team. Whether you agree with the views expressed in this article or not we invite you to take take part in this important discussion, our only request is that you express yourself in a way that ensures everyone’s voice can be heard.

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