Short Stories

im standing in front of an audience

I'm standing in front of an audience

society has deemed derelicts and hoodlum

and I am their entertainer

I am writing the poem

that will save the world

and they say that it's got to be as good

as a nas rhyme and have more emotion

than tupac did

my audience consisting

of ex-gang bangers, graffiti writers, drug dealers,

and students who have traveled too much

in the cracks of the public school system

they are my audience

and as their entertainer

I have traveled as many roads

as they have, and stand in front

of them without fear

because they can smell fear

I am them fifteen years behind

with poetry being the left turn i made at 14

I tell them that road is approaching

all they have to do it take that road

so fast that their past

will never catch up to them

I tell them in their metamorphosis

they can change their name

their place of rest, their life,

their career, their goals

and strive for that that has seemed

unattainable for so many years

one student says

"how? how the hell am I supposed to get there,

it's easy for you to say it now

I have one kid, one gang after me, and no job,

how the hell am i supposed to go anywhere

besides down?"

I ask him "how bad do you want it?"

in the beginning all i had was poetry

everything else took a back seat

Love life, family, and work was a non existent,

I tell them to use their connections,

intern somewhere

learn to live

live to write

write to love

love to learn

this is the last day of your life

what are you going to leave behind?

what will be your legacy?

and they stare at me like

a rabbit in the headlights

and say "I don't know"

I tell them to open their chests

and let whatever falls out

let it fall on the page

let the page be your doctor

let the page be your therapist

let the page be your lover

let the page be your enemy, punch it in the face

let the page be the best friend that'll never stab you in the back

let the page be your prozac

let the page be your rap

let the page be your rock and roll

let the page be the fancy ride you're always talking about

let the page be the bling bling on your wrist

let the page be the underground beat your about to rip

let the page be your autobiography

tell them who you are

tell them they're wrong for labeling you

tell them fuck you for giving up on them

tell them your life may not be worth shit now

but tomorrow gives you hope

so you won't take your life today or the next day

tell them you will be here forever

tell them you are the ones who create beautiful art

from stark realities and it scares them

tell them you are loved

no matter what anyone says

tell them you are loved

and they listen

head down for fifteen minutes

head in hand

no cares for grammar

no cares for pronunciation

no cares for structure

never coming off the page

and the first student gets up

and his mouth open wide and claps

"I want to live"

"i want to love"

(repeated a hundred times over)

"I want to live"

"i want to love"

and I asked him

if that was any good

and he tells me

"it's the best poem

I've ever heard".

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A/N: this was an elective assignment written by me. it was a remix of one of my favorite poems by Bonafied Rojas.