9/30

young negros
run the alleyways of this empire
cacophony of laughter
as mother's stoop
upon stoops
grimacing
over tall cans
of american lager
gone to the horizon
are the unemployed fathers
gone dead
to the hot war torn
sand
are countless brothers and sisters
and the rain falls
pound the streets
a black blue clean
cups
dust
open condom wrappers
wade to the gutter
cling to it's concrete sides
everybody
got them deep
open eyes
afraid of drowning
whites
to blacks
to inbetweens
gone savage
to charges
to arm loans
to forty in thirty
101 percent equity loans
to thin plasma tvs
belvedere vodka
and esclades
but
amongst it all
hump shouldering
bleak it out
terror
of end of job blues
the grill cheese stand
it thrives
and there is business men
an workaday stiffs
sitting with their children
wives
or coworkers
smiling through
long strands of cheese
i can hear a marching band
as the sun causes my eyes to pinch
forehead to ruffle
the warmth feels good
the city is alive
underneath the dirt
is a heart that still beats hope
hope on!
beat on!
bicycle on!
negro dreamers
to the marching band drum
amen