I can identify with the subject matter very well. I am guessing the repetition of phrases in the poem are to bring to light the frustration of hearing the same old stories from the same people, and it does provide that feeling for sure.

I would cut out a few of the repetitions, and try to find a couple of phrases that might flow well. I always keep a thesaurus at hand to help me with things like this, because I'm not the most poetic person by a long shot.

On the subject matter, I learned some years ago to turn a deaf ear to that crap. When it got tossed around over and over in a few minutes, I would just say, "If you're still hanging on to that, then I obviously haven't pissed you off lately...what a shame." Then I walk away laughing. The other skill I learned in dealing with critics is this...we all have that one person who calls and wants to engage us on things like this over the phone. With me, it was my mother. I finally learned a creative way to hang up on someone. I start to say something, then disconnect the call halfway through my sentence. When they call right back, I just say, "You know, I don't carry on conversations with people who hang up on me" and I hang up again.

Let's face it, once we learn that people are going to think and feel about us however they want to, we learn not to be bothered by their criticism. I know how difficult it is to have a conversation turn around suddenly to a discussion about all my faults and past transgressions. When I learned to just smile and walk away, it all got better. Of course, it's a little bit of a pain when you've travelled a thousand miles to go home for a holiday, but there's actually quite a bit of satisfaction in getting up from the table and walking out to the car and getting back on the road back home, leaving one's critics sitting there with their faces hanging out. It eventually makes them think twice about bringing up the ghosts of the past.

I like the piece, I'd just like to see it polished up with a few phrases to cut the repetitive items. Bravo on dealing with it all...it gets easier the more you learn to accept yourself and laugh at it all.

My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Get CASH!" .