Screaming in a field

a pantoum poem

In a pantoum poem, the second and fourth lines of each verse are repeated as the first and third lines of the next. Additionally, the very last line of the poem is a repeat of the poem’s opening line, and in the final stanza, the second line is a repeat of the poem’s third line. Modern pantoums can be any length and do not have to rhyme, but each stanza must be four lines.

Sometimes I really feel the need to scream
— I have to find an empty field, and scream.
Right out here in the open, where it’s green,
I’ll scream my lungs out where no-one can see.

I have to find an empty field and scream,
because you make my life a misery.
I’ll scream my lungs out where no-one can see —
I’ve warned you now. Don’t think I won’t.

Because you make my life a misery,
it makes me want to grab you by the throat;
I’ve warned you now — don’t think I won’t.
To think I loved you once upon a time!

It makes me want to grab you by the throat,
your patronising smile; it drives me wild.
To think I loved you once upon a time,
and now I want to kill myself, or you.

Your patronising smile -it drives me wild —
I’m feeling such a loss of self-control.
And now I want to kill myself or you;
I think it’s time we went our separate ways.

I’m feeling such a loss of self-control —
I just don’t like the person I’ve become.
I think it’s time we went our separate ways,
because you bring out the very worst in me.

I just don’t like the person I’ve become
right out here, in the open, where it’s green.
Because you bring out the very worst in me,
sometimes I really feel the need to scream.