These are a few from a group I called When the Ghetto and the Suburbs Collide
Ghetto School Boy
He packs, showers, polishes his shoes
Puts on his school’s uniform
His father is ready and starts the car
He hopes that he will soon transfer
To a school without pickpockets and boys with scarred faces
Bruised and cut knuckles, scuffed shoes and torn laces
Classrooms are furnaces, lunch lines like prison riots
Food is thrown in the roads or in gullies
Boys are pinching girl’s butts and breasts
They couldn’t be civilized if they tried
Children look in the gully shocked, holding their nose
The boy looks in and sees a dead body with an empty eye socket
Rats nibbling on the skin, crows circle the sky
He throws away his food and walks back to class
Babylon
“The characteristics of Babylon are never failing. Babylon
will invade your privacy as a routine; insist on wearing uniforms, particularly
boots, guns, hats, dogs on leashes and they particularly love marching in imitation of robots.”
- Bob Marley
He loosens his top button, swallows painkillers
Buys a flask of white rum to stop his hands from shaking
The bodies haunt him, he thinks;
They call us Babylon yet they do devilish things to each other
He picks her up, pops a pill, takes a sip
He drinks to destroy nightmares, fucks to forget
She sucks away his sorrows, he ejaculates to erase his evil thoughts
He licks the sweat from her nipples
His flaccid dick sleeps and leaks
He takes another sip and spits out bloody rum
She laughs at his hallucinations
She doesn’t know the look of seared flesh
Or gaunt drained bodies that has been bleeding for hours
The hour is finished
Pay more or leave
His cell phone has two messages
He skips his wife’s and listens to his partners.
Another body, come now
The body is by a high school
He pays her, finishes his flask and grabs his badge and gun
God have mercy on those children’s souls.
Just Do it
He waits outside a cheap hotel uptown
The stripping paint falls on his neck
Down his shirt
Patiently he waits with his hand in his pocket
Fingers against the steel
He knows he shouldn’t do this
Questions it
Feels like he should walk away.
He sees his target and moves towards him
Slits then stabs, then runs
The man falls while his lover screams
The killer wipes everything clean
Changes and puts everything in a bag to be burnt
Everything except an envelope
Money from his victim’s wife.
Enough for a toy for his son, or a new pair of Nikes.
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On Just Do It: Great play on words with the title. I like how you presented ethics in it.
ReplyDeleteIs Babylon linked to Ghetto School Boy? Would be cool if it was.
ReplyDeleteThe 3 poems are actually all linked
ReplyDeleteI like this one the best.
ReplyDeleteJust Do it is my favourite.
ReplyDelete-schizo
cute response schizo .. hehe
ReplyDeletei like your discriptions. gave me a good mental picture of what was going on, specially ghetto school boy. but just do it is my favourite.
ReplyDeleteI like how the 3 poems hang together...nicely done. Babylon is ultra graphic. I like that, especially the contrast with Marley's quote. Love the play on the Nike slogan in "Just do it".
ReplyDeleteI had to read it again. The triptic poetry is perfect. It's a solidly woven story of three lives, all of them wondering when things will get better. I would have loved if the school boy had a vice though, something that allows us to see a balance in his persona. Granted, we could assume that his complaining and wanting to get a transfer instead of wanting to stay in his school and set a good example could be his vice. Great Poems Simons.
ReplyDeleteOh, the only other comment I have is the language. The issues that the police officer is facing seems to require the use of the expletive in order to paint a true picture of who he is and what he feels to be acceptable. However, since all three poems are linked, of value and can be understood by readers of various ages, I would feel a little "uncomfortable" with exposing a younger reader to such strong language.
That said...brill!
Breddren,
ReplyDeleteThat is some brilliant writing. I like the imagery in the stories. They are even more effective if you've ever had to encounter a similar situation.
I have, back in Montego Bay when going and coming from school! Keep writing and I'll keep reading.