the poor will always be poor, he said, guys’ll kill ya over a buck thirty-five on a food-stamp card….guarantee that motherfucker,lit a cigarette…looked me in the eye, an’ if they don’t kill ya’ in a single shot…they’ll do-it over time….

kids at car-windows as i drive-by….eyes ‘bove tops…head-first into SUV’s…a shimmy an’ a shake givin’ out poison in the streets at market price…coke…crack…speed…wanna o.d. ….come see me….

porch lights out…shoes tossed over wires….that smell…something’s cookin’ down the block with whiffs of ammonia…peroxide…detergent….Tide gets bones clean….cooked and stirred…stirred and cooked…by a chemist without a degree….P&G’s on the phone…you’ve been called-up to the majors….

drive ’round this town…home-town…left long ago…. divisions grown wider….blacks hate whites…whites hate blacks….Macedonians hate everybody….guns blaze throughout my ‘hood at night… constant turf war….a battle of commerce….cop cars roll-by….on their way to diners to talk shop….tough nights for the boys in blue….harder still for those without colors at all….

i hear sirens…it is dark….

there may never be light…