{"id":7191,"date":"2010-04-01T12:54:25","date_gmt":"2010-04-01T18:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/?p=7191"},"modified":"2010-04-01T13:24:47","modified_gmt":"2010-04-01T19:24:47","slug":"poem-who-do-you-blame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/poetry\/poem-who-do-you-blame\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Who do you blame?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>By Joel Challenger<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Ask me not who, for I cannot not answer.<\/p>\n<p>Why must silence prevail, then we stand shocked;<\/p>\n<p>Homes ripped apart, who\u2019s responsible? Perplexed by one question.<\/p>\n<p>Who do you blame?<\/p>\n<p>How can a small child tell a shopkeeper,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe cigarettes are for my parents\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then feed on the pungent cancer stick, until all fire quits?<\/p>\n<p>Who do you blame?<\/p>\n<p>Slowly, a teen staggers to a rum shop,<\/p>\n<p>Buys another shot for his grandfather,<\/p>\n<p>Then devours the burning substance before he reaches home.<\/p>\n<p>Who do you blame?<\/p>\n<p>Her kid, now shuffles through the streets unclothed,<\/p>\n<p>Begging for coins to get \u201canother fix\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>This school dropout once helped mom sell her \u201cstash\u201d when she wasn\u2019t there.<\/p>\n<p>Who do you blame?<\/p>\n<p>A shy girl lies still, and tries to erase<\/p>\n<p>The permanent stain on her mind; her kin<\/p>\n<p>Robbed her of life, perpetrator known, but society\u2019s mute!<\/p>\n<p>Who do you blame?<\/p>\n<p>Moms \u2018eyes swollen shut, his macho fists ache,<\/p>\n<p>The children cower beneath the bed stand.<\/p>\n<p>Their screams silenced by the fear of their role model, their father.<\/p>\n<p>Who do you blame?<\/p>\n<p>The judge\u2019s gavel loudly seals the youth\u2019s fate<\/p>\n<p>He cringes as cuffs around his wrist placed,<\/p>\n<p>Never before corrected. Family now crying; he\u2019s dragged away,.<\/p>\n<p>Who do you blame?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Joel Challenger Ask me not who, for I cannot not answer. Why must silence prevail, then we stand shocked; Homes ripped apart, who\u2019s responsible? Perplexed by one question. Who do you blame? How can a small child tell a&#8230;","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>POEM: Who do you blame?  - Dominica News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/poetry\/poem-who-do-you-blame\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"POEM: Who do you blame?  - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Joel Challenger Ask me not who, for I cannot not answer. 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