Chicago*
HOME BOY SHOT
Body splayed on da street
Still barely breathin’
Another victim o da long summer heat


​Crimson stream 
Runnin out his head
Say da neighborhood old wise man
“He gonna bees a long time dead”

Tyrone’s momma Shenequa den come out 
Fearing da worst
Lord only knows
Dis Momma ain’t da first

Dis oft repeated scene
Ain’t gonna bees da last
On dees bloody streets o mean
Death comes ‘round so fast

Shenequa cut through da crowd
Franticly screamin’
She finally see it bees Tyrone
Her tears bees streamin’

As da old man locks eyes wit her
He bees shakin’ his head
He done whisper to himself 
“Lord knows, When you dead, you dead.”

*Sounds like Chicago in 2016, but it was on the Lower East Side of New York in 1990.

Copyright 2016

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