The One That Isn't Stab Happy. . .

I see that a poem (Education for Leisure, a copy of which can be found here) by Carol Ann Duffy has been removed from an anthology used for GCSE English as it would appear to promote knife crime.

Give me strength. If we follow the same logic, the following tracts should be banned for promoting inappropriate concepts:

MacBeth - Regicide.
Antony and Cleopatra - Infidelity.
Death of a Salesman - Suicide.
The Caretaker - Racism, the exploitation of the homeless.
The Canterbury Tales - Well, take your pick.

I'm no poetry expert, I have always preferred the directness of prose. If you've something to say, then say it, is how I've always felt. This doesn't strike me as a particularly good example of the poet's art, but there you go, what do I know?

Look, banning obsessed people, just give it a bloody rest will you? Are you going to remove all references to knives from Home Economics, or Woodwork? When I read this poem, I don't see any promotion or glorification of going around and stabbing people. I see a sad, disturbed and lonely person unable to cope with his position in life.

Perhaps I should read the poem backwards in a Judas Priest style. . .