bmore

kids are growing up
in the shadow of gang violence
nervously joking
about the number of murders last year

not gangs that match their skin,
or gags that match the kin,
but people of an entirely different
social strata removed and unarmed

but wielding their dignity.

the kids in baltimore
are doing hard time
living in neighborhoods
they don't understand

across the railroad tracks
in converted duplexes
triplexes, quadplexes
town and single family homes

paying too much for too little.

trapped in the ratrace
these kids are in over their heads
shielding themselves
from the eventual collapse

of the marketing companies
with their online dealings
and other stealing of their dignity
the ignominity of anonymity.

working too much for too little.

these kids have asbestos-laden
walls exposed in their basements,
live frustrated lives
in suburban tenements.

across the country, i have moved
myself well away, but i am no different,
staying up all night with a chisel,
sculpting out one moment at a time.

making too much but too little.