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LeeJ
Member Patricius
since 2003-06-19
Posts 13296


0 posted 2006-07-26 09:21 AM


and so

   alone,
on Philadelphia tarmac
lights illuminating recycled
wolf howls over The Museum
can you feel them knawing your skin?
seeping beneath your flesh
with a
blood threatening atmosphere
riding the Expressway
with odd misshapen
hues

everywhere to nowhere
going postal
& born to be wild

Will Smith marches
for an
end to violence
mournful ears
read the words
of missing children
mocking birds play
raunchy bass heavy music
pounding out a killer’s ransom

red eyes blazing anger
out of the darkness
like fat slices
of stalking déjà vu

explosive stabbing mobs
of crime
sigh an upsurge
of inmates on death row

while the
signs on jails shout
“no vacancy”
grimacing screams
in playgrounds
bouncing on the streets

children curled up in fetal positions
in the narrow alleys of poverty
secluded pathways of drug runners
kids owned by the hood
billowing mysteries of legal failures (mayor street?)

living in bell jars of beveled glass
apprehension edges on
the brink of everyday life
putting an end to confidence
growing skeletal remains

wearisome
living 5 floors below the surface
with dark-paneled pubs
pushers & pimps of a worldly hell

vomiting freshly spilled blood
a siren’s call in the distance
shifting eyes of some swinging door
monumentally erupting guns
then...
another...
fallen...
police officer
responding to the sum

pierced empty sidewalks
with sharp blades of sludge
hidden turnstiles of souls
where children go
at age four

and through the visor of mind
refuge screams in terror
“the kid’s zones”…
offered on Ogontz Ave
“Stop-snitching” T-Shirts
victimize their next targets

going against everything we know
while agony of surviving families...friends
have grave decisions to hold
the American Dream becomes
something that goes bump in the night

************************************
222 homicides in Philadelphia
as of Tuesday, July 25, 2006

sorry, it just gets to ya after a while

[This message has been edited by LeeJ (07-28-2006 07:13 AM).]

© Copyright 2006 Lee J. - All Rights Reserved
Midnitesun
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Empyrean
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia
1 posted 2006-07-26 12:15 PM


oh my, Lee, it is this kind of scene which shakes my faith (tho I really have no faith anymore anyway).
Thank you dear friend, for the kind email.
It is people like you who renew the remnants
of what I once held onto as faith in humankind's ability to turn the world around. Lately, it seems, I can only trust a very small handful of people to be sincere and, with motives that are altruistic, not born of greed or some other suspicious ulterior motives. And the lack of caring, lack of willingness to take actions to change directions that don't involve violence and retaliation..shoves my heart and soul into a deep dirty ditch, waiting for the shovelful with my name on it.
But I am not done yet. I listen to the birds, look at the sky when it is clear, smell the flowers, and walk the pathway in spite of the boulders. It's easy to do when the path is in a small, relatively safe town. Not so easy for someone in Philly, or other major cities teeming with so many layers of life and death.
You wrote it with much intensity, true gritty lenses focussed on the stench of it, especially how it impacts the four year olds. That turnstile line really got me. Thank you for being able to write such truths, the news we want to ignore because it is so devastatingly real, and often in our own backyards.

JL
Member Ascendant
since 2004-04-01
Posts 6128
Texas, USA
2 posted 2006-07-26 01:13 PM


Excellent write Lee J.

I just dropped in to see what condition
my condition was in...
(Yeah...Yeah... Oh, Yeahaaaaaaaaaaaa)...


Thanks for reminding me.

Big Hug

JL

Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed:
blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
~Jesus Christ

Enchantress
Member Empyrean
since 2001-08-14
Posts 35113
Canada eh.
3 posted 2006-07-26 01:19 PM


You write it so well Lee!
Sitting here shaking my head..
what's to come of us?

Love ya,
Nancy


For it was not into my ear you whispered
But into my heart..
It was not my lips you kissed
But my soul.

aziza
Member Elite
since 2006-07-09
Posts 2995
Lumpy Oatmeal makes me Crazy!
4 posted 2006-07-27 12:31 PM


This poem has so much power.  After reading it, I was listening to NPR and there was a man talking about the murder rate going up in larger cities.  Boston and Philidelphia were mentioned -- I flashed back to your poem and listened to him more intently.  That is power and that is a wonderful thing in a poem.

Thank you.
aziza

passing shadows
Member Empyrean
since 1999-08-26
Posts 45577
displaced
5 posted 2006-07-27 02:11 AM


senseless

what an outstanding write that just made me sit in awe

very powerful Lee

latearrival
Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499
Florida
6 posted 2006-07-27 05:14 PM


Lee, check your e-mail.
latearrival
Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499
Florida
7 posted 2006-07-27 05:19 PM


"The City of Brotherly Love".  Well described. Sorry, it is too rampant everywhere.. You are a master at description. love ya. martyjo

[This message has been edited by latearrival (07-27-2006 11:23 PM).]

nakdthoughts
Member Laureate
since 2000-10-29
Posts 19200
Between the Lines
8 posted 2006-07-27 06:05 PM


Visiting Baltimore Lee, I get the same feelings and hear the same news... and I am between the two cities...sort of safe for now...but as the move towards the country increases, so does the crime rate even in surrounding towns. I have lived here in this area over 30 years and have only heard of 3 murders in all that time... even that is 3 too many.
think I will stay put...but I wish something could be done to help those who have to live among it...

a good descriptive write Lee
stay safe

M

Goldenrose
Member Elite
since 2003-05-30
Posts 3665

9 posted 2006-07-27 06:39 PM


This poem shows the great importance that poetry has to to tell and inform in such an explosive way...Lee this is what ALL poets should do from time to time and not be afraid to do so...an excellent write but so harrowing..thank you..

Goldenrose.

The Lady
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-12-26
Posts 7634
The Southwest
10 posted 2006-07-28 01:37 AM




Powerful work...
stark truth.
Well done LeeJ.


Ratleader
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Rara Avis
since 2003-01-23
Posts 7026
Visiting Earth on a Guest Pass
11 posted 2006-07-28 01:53 AM


Look on the bright side....most of them are on people who would be likely to do the same thing themselves, if you put any stock in statistics....so maybe they're thinning themselves out, like overplanted weeds.

~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>   ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>  ~~(¸¸ ¸¸ºº>    ~~~(¸¸ER¸¸ºº>
______________Ratleader______________

divine chaos
Senior Member
since 2006-07-09
Posts 617
dancing 'neath the moon
12 posted 2006-07-29 08:05 AM


powerful write, LeeJ
very powerful

I'm originally from
Chicago, still have family
there ... I shudder to think
of that life anymore

I'm so glad to live
in the country now
where I can let my baby
play outside unattended,
leave the doors unlocked and open
when I run to the store,
and walk safely in the street
even after dark

*hugs tight*
~*Sheli*~

By words the mind is winged
~Aristophanes~

Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
13 posted 2006-07-29 10:00 AM



Well done, Lee!

Bonnie j
Senior Member
since 2003-06-27
Posts 1588
Ohio
14 posted 2006-07-29 10:45 AM


Hi there LeeJ.

Yes we do live in troubled times. I just wrote a prayer for all the children of earth.
A PRAYER IN TROUBLED TIMES.
Tears of sadness, tears of sadness for the mess we are in. It's like we are on a fast moving train that is out of control and we are not sure when it will stop or come to crashing halt.

Hugs to you my friend. Be safe.
Love BonBon

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