Obituaries
Public housing was built
to better the condition
of the urban poor,
providing decent apartments
alternatives to tenements.
City planners didn't foresee
that along with regular people
the disaffected moved in,
dependent on welfare,
hating the hand that feeds them,
turning to drugs, crime, violence,
polluting the community,
intimidating their neighbors
until disorder took root.
Many youngsters were attracted
to what seemed the easy life
of the drug dealer, prostitute,
while gullible kids didn't listen
to the mothers who cared for them
because of what they saw around them,
the sharp clothes of the drug dealers,
the ready money they flashed,
the girls that hung out with them.
The allure of local glamour
was much more desirable
then boring, hard work at school
necessary for a future job
that seemed infinite years away,
so they were seduced by evil,
not realizing dealers died young,
prostitutes died of disease,
the illusion of success
brief, harsh, terminal.
The loss of many youngsters
who could have contributed
to a needy society
adrift with crumbling values,
diminishing morality,
is a crime against nature,
a perversion of nurture
and as our grandeur fades away
there is little thought for youngsters
lost from us each day
who are owed more by our system
then hate, alienation,
and might still be redeemed
if diminutive leaders
accept their obligation
to serve the people.
__________
Contusions is an unpublished poetry collection that explores the aches and pains we suffer from the assault of life.