Sometimes, a poem can capture something in a subject that essays, articles and comment work much harder to achieve. Here, Rick Belden, author of ‘Iron Man Family Outing: Poems about Transition into a More Conscious Manhood’, gives us a close-up view of those difficult thoughts and feelings pornography raises for users and society. Copyright © 1990, 2008 by Rick Belden. All rights reserved. You can vist Rick’s site at www.rickbelden.com

Pleasureland

scary peroxide blonde with huge breasts prances around

with a leather belt attached to her neck like a leash

smiles as she invites men to whip her bare ass.

 

klansman in white hood + robes fucks

laughing black girl in cheap motel room

oriental woman bound + gagged chained to a wheel

spins around    little whips flick at her naked skin

skinny little effeminate man he looks sick                suspended by

his arms from the ceiling

red plastic ball taped into his mouth

angry woman what a nazi

hits him             tells him he’s shit

later on two big guys rape him.

 

video tapes + magazines

organized by special interest

bisexuals         lesbians          she-males      frat boys

big tits               butt fucks        blow jobs          fat women

bondage rape + torture

it all looks like pain to me tonight.

 

every face in every picture says

love me             i’m bad             i hate myself

hurt me             let me hurt you

i need to feel something         i’m helpless     take me

i need to feel loved

if we hurt each other we will feel loved.

 

gay straight fat black white

men + women bound + gagged

wounded + desperate

unloved children in grown-up bodies.

 

degradation                  exploitation

domination                    subjugation

soul abuse                    arousal.

 

most of all the bondage

too much!

intense photos on video boxes

women strapped to boards

bound in leather + ropes

contorted + tied into pretzel shapes

gagged with large red rubber balls in their mouths

fear in their eyes

helpless . . .

              hurt me             i like it                i like to be hurt

              it’s ok to hurt other people

              they want you to hurt them

              they get off on it.

 

angry aroused curious outraged confused

              I want to see this

no I don’t

              just a little

I’ve seen enough

              just once

no!

 

this time I can’t do it

I can’t watch this or bring it into my home

without violating that little boy inside

hasn’t there been enough of that already?

 

a struggle

I’m drawn like a moth to a headlight

like a cat into a

warm engine spinning radiator fan

on a cold winter morning.

 

this stuff appeals to everything that’s

wounded + dysfunctional in me

prepackaged soul abuse

choose life!

 

does any of this turn you on

I used to think those people on the corner were nuts

pornography is child abuse

don’t take my word for it

see for yourself.

 

women + children don’t count for much in this culture

nobody does

life’s cheap

I’m not kidding check it out.

 

all this + still I have a need

I go home disgusted  go to bed

jack off thinking about an old girl friend

somebody else’s wife

not very satisfying at all.

 

I used to feel guilty + relieved after masturbation

now I just wish I’d done something else instead.

 

 

 

Click to get pleasureland as a pdf