New Poem

I've gotten into the habit of posting new poems up here. My latest poem is in the perspective of a middle aged resident who has stop caring about the progression of their neighborhood or the people within it (particularly young people). This is a performance piece so I am talking to an audience of young people and then it broadens. Hope you enjoy. :)

You right there in the second row show me why I should care

Show me why I should fight for you

Show me what I lose every time

I decide to give up

Decide to stop fighting

For you

Show me what I have already lost

What I have already given up

Because maybe then I’ll stop giving ya’ll up so easily

 

The makeshift memorial under their bedroom windows

Isn’t enough for me to feel guilty

The 3 minute segment on the news

Doesn’t pull my heart strings hard enough

 

Make me feel guilt

Make me feel guilty

That I’ve let drug dealers become our block captains

And crack houses become our community head quarters

Make me feel guilty

That I’ve stopped caring about this community

And the people within it

 

I complain about teens going rampant

Yet have stopped advocating for recreational places

I shake my head at the trash that riddles the street

But have yet to pick up a broom and sweep in front of my own front door

I’ve turned this into a hopeless place

Because I have given up my own dreams for it

 

So show me her

Show me him

Show me his homerun that won the game

His MVP trophy overtop the fireplace

Show me her favorite princess dress

And her prancing around in it

Show me the father who never got to see his daughter get married

And the mother who never got to see her kids graduate

Because I know I’ve turned this to a dreamless place

Where kids have no allies

And everybody has stopped caring

Where kids think all they can do is deal and steal

Because hope is passed on from generation to generation

And I have passed on none

 

So show me the innocent little girl

Who still thinks life is as sweet as can be

Make me realize that she is worth saving

Make me believe she can stopped this hopeless cycle

Help me to accept that she will show us

What happens if we work hard

That you may not reach your dreams

But that you’ll go pretty far

 

Because her bright light is infectious

I believe anything is possible

When I look into her honey brown eyes

But eventually this “everything is possible” phase

Goes Away

And that is when you have to nourish it

Because once you nurture a living thing

You believe you can do anything

And that it’s worth doing anything

 

It’s worth creating a blank slate with are streets

Because every piece of trash was just a hope that people thought would never come true

It’s worth painting a visual picture of hope in our community

With green grass and various colored flowers

Because hope is recognized by how we carry ourselves also

It’s worth telling our young ones to strive for the best

Because we’ve realized ourselves they could possibly succeed

 

Because eventually I want to stop feeling guilty

Not because I’ve stopped caring

But because I realized I have done everything I could

I want to stop flipping on the news and seeing a misguided teen I knew

But never said a word to

And instead see a kid that I know who did something great or didn’t

Because I know I did everything to help that kid

So hopefully there will be no need for me to feel guilty