Come Get Your Whooping (poem) by Tommy L Thomas on AuthorsDen

Come Get Your Whooping
by Tommy L Thomas → (All Poetry by Tommy L Thomas)
Rated "G" by the Author.

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What happens when Momma use to say, come get your whipping.
COME GET YOUR WHOOPING Boy, have you been bad Grandma use to say Even though you knew the answer you lied anyway Your thoughts were on the whooping you were about to get Is it going to hurt, you bet? Which was more painful the whooping or that little talk Of how it hurt her more even though your behind would sag and you Could hardly walk To make it even worse you were told to go get that switch If you brought back one too small there was trouble and you’d be Whooped without a stitch. When Grandma whooped and talked at the same time The urge was to raise your hand in defense and do Mike Tyson as a Pantomime But you knew better and bowed to Grandma’s will To do otherwise you could get maimed or worse be killed. Come get your whooping were words of fear It didn’t take the police to take you to jail, “you hear” When words were spoken they were words of dread They didn’t have to be spoken twice to get it through your head. What you was told, not asked, you did and not talked back If you started smelling your musk upside your head was a smack If you still wanted to be bad and started to talk You could hardly sit down and had trouble as you walked. Before she was through your thoughts ranged from running away or raising your hand for a hit After a while those thoughts left as a prayer form that you wouldn’t Die before she quit Lord, if I ever live through this I will be nice and good Come get your whooping had its meaning and is now understood. Come get your whooping is like an old shoe Discarded, out of date and completely through As I look back on the whooping I got and the disrespect today It is this rotten fruitage in our children that makes them and we have to pay. Because of modern laws not to touch your children makes them kill without remorse Where once if you were bad the remedy was come get your whooping was the daily course Where once the law of Father stood with respect at his feet Has been replaced with the Devil creed the law of the street. They say that getting a whooping is old fashioned, talk to your children if you can The eternal law of GOD has been forgotten and replaced by man When that old fashioned belt whistled a tune to correct No matter how old you were or how bad you were demanded full Respect. If you rolled your eyes or let out a snort Twice the fury of Grandma is now to the surface brought Don’t let her start singing a tune with the strap When you thought she was almost through she gives it another 20 laps. The jailhouse is full of those whose parents shunned “Come get your whooping” The funeral home is full of little juniors who got shot for in the wrong place they were snooping Lord I thank you for Grandma, Momma, and Daddy who did not hold back or was drooping But stepped forward and did their job when needed and said “Come get your whooping”.

Reviewed by Louise Bannerman, CC

Reviewed on February 5, 2010

This was a moving poem for me because it reminded me of my late grandmother. I remembered the times I had to go get the switch then had to go wet it. The way our grandparents put the whoopings down it keep our family together. With the church and whoopings in our life, we turned out fine. Thanks for taking me down memory lane.

Reviewed by Connie Faust

Reviewed on February 20, 2009

This brings tears to my eyes, just thinking of the terrible changes that have been wrought in our society. Your Grandma was strict, alright, but just like my Mom who was the "whooper" in our family, the lessons they taught took hold.
Connie

Reviewed by Mary Lacey Desertrat

Reviewed on February 19, 2009

Tommy,

This is wonderfully written, humorous, but unfortunately so true. Someone called Child Services on my neighbor, because he swatted his grandson on the behind. Get real people.

Mary