PAD Challenge Day 21: From a Dark Place

 Today's prompts from Write Better Poetry and NapoWriMo: (1) Write a poem with the title "________ Me," and (2) write a poem using lines with a "repetitive setup." (I believe the term for it is "anaphora.") One example Maureen of NaPoWriMo gave was an anonymous rhyme called "There Was a Man of Double Deed" which takes an unusual, unexpected dark turn toward the end, a sort of inevitable progression. She also gave an example of an ekphrastic poem she wrote about a "bucket of owls" which gets surreal and darkly humorous. 

All this is turn put me in a rather dark frame of mind, but on a more serious and timely note. Ever write a poem that haunts you? The one I wrote today did. I was so disturbed by it myself that I almost didn't post it, but I felt compelled to put it out in the world. It's far from the best poem I've written this month, but it's easily the darkest. And it's a story that seems to be told over and over these days, unfortunately. So for your consideration, this persona poem.

Don't Take Me
 
They beat me, my parents,
They bullied me, my classmates,
They failed me, my teachers,
They fired me, my employers,
They deprived me, those others,
They mocked me, those enemies,
They embraced me, those new friends,
They empowered me, my brothers,
They told me the problem,
They gave me a mission,
They gave me the targets,
They gave me a gun.
I went on a vendetta,
I went for revenge,
I went on a rampage,
I went for them all.
Now time has run out,
Now I'm trapped in a corner,
Now I'm shooting at cops,
Now I'm desperately saying,
Don't hold back,
Don't spare me,

Don't talk me out,
Don't take me alive.