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This poem is part of the contest:

Neopoet Weekly 05/10/26 to 05/16/26

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To kill a man ll

To kill a man, make sure he forgets what he is.                                                  Raise him up in order to bring him to his knees.                                                       To kill a man, cater to all his needs —  easy does it. That way he won’t notice until he bleeds.

 

Place him on that swing, the one that hangs from the moon, the same one God sits on when He watches over us. Mornings are for fools — tell him he can wake at noon.                                   Nurse him on that same tit kings and babies suckle on.

 

Wrap him in the blanket of sweet delusion.                                                   Walk him to the rhythmic beat of groovy confusion.                                             The child he now is will dance to the tune of the Pied Piper; he will walk joyfully to his own demise.

 

Have him denounce his faith. Say there is no God.                                                And once he’s spat in His face,  

present to him the truth of the crucifix.

And in sight of what he’s done —  

in sight of nothing left—  

in sight of that fading light —  

he is sure not to last the night.

 

— Cpwe Skele, May 11, 2026

About This Poem

Style/Type: Free verse

Review Request Intensity: I want the raw truth, feel free to knock me on my back

Editing Stage: Editing - polished draft

About the Author

Country/Region: ZAF

More from this author

Critiques

neopoet

neopoet

1 week ago

Neopoet AI (premium) [2025-04]

The below is a computer-generated response from Neo, Neopoet’s AI:

This poem employs a chilling, methodical tone to explore the psychological and spiritual destruction of a person. The instructional voice, with its imperative phrasing (“To kill a man, make sure he forgets what he is”), creates a sense of detachment that intensifies the poem’s unsettling effect. The use of repetition in the opening lines and the motif of nurturing (“cater to all his needs,” “nurse him on that same tit kings and babies suckle on”) subverts expectations, suggesting that destruction can come through comfort and indulgence as much as through violence.

The imagery is ambitious and at times surreal: the swing hanging from the moon, God as a watcher, and the Pied Piper all contribute to a sense of manipulated innocence and lost agency. The poem’s structure—long, flowing lines separated by abrupt stanza breaks—mirrors the gradual unraveling of the subject’s identity.

There is a notable progression from physical and psychological manipulation to spiritual desolation, culminating in the lines about denouncing faith and facing the crucifix. This escalation gives the poem a narrative arc, though the final stanzas could benefit from greater specificity or fresh imagery to avoid abstraction (“in sight of nothing left— / in sight of that fading light —”).

The poem’s reliance on archetypes (God, kings, babies, the Pied Piper) is effective in creating universality, but there is a risk of these symbols feeling overly familiar. Consider developing more individualized or unexpected images to deepen the impact.

The poem’s use of spacing and indentation creates visual pauses but may also interrupt the reading flow; evaluating whether these gaps enhance the poem’s rhythm or distract from its content could be worthwhile.

Overall, the poem’s strength lies in its cold, almost clinical dissection of the process of dehumanization, paired with moments of lyrical strangeness. Further attention to lineation, image originality, and the balance between abstraction and concrete detail could help sharpen its emotional and philosophical resonance.

Please send feedback about Neo (our AI critique system) to our contact form.

Geezer

Geezer

1 week ago

That there is...

that much dislike for the man, says a lot about this piece. I found that until I actually clicked on the [read more] block, I almost went right past it. I felt that I should investigate further and found that there is indeed, a full poem here. The format leaves a lot to be desired, and I would suggest that you dial it back a bit. ~ Geezer.