Friday, July 30, 2010

Scouting Rocks

Scouting Rocks
by Gideon Burton

The merit of those badges and awards,
the virtues of the campouts and the dirt,
the reason BSA gets my support,
is not because I like a khaki shirt.
Oh no, I am a critic of the cult:
its rituals, its silliness, its lore;
its campy camps, the way it warps adults,
its fundraising -- we pay and pay some more.
And yet, my sons go out among the trees,
they hike and stroke canoes across a lake.
Testosterone is tempered by degrees
despite the whoopee cushion world they make.
     So, let them stone the gophers, burn their socks;
     Unplugged and exercising: scouting rocks.



Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Feel free to copy, imitate, remix, or redistribute this poem as long as you give proper acknowledgment of authorship.

3 comments:

  1. LOL Nicely said! And despite my slight cringing at some of the scout camp traditions, I really am happy my son has it in his life.

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  2. Amen!! While I find much that I don't like in Scouting (fundraisers, etc), I cannot fathom what else could possibly take its place in my sons' lives!

    Great sonnet! Thank you!

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