the world is a messed-up place
like an arrogant excuse
leveling your block in Brooklyn
plastered onto your
Park Slope avenue
of the US prison population
white men abuse at a higher rate
more than crack
five-year sentences
in courtyards, but the same structures
still shackle the ankles of Black inmates
to put a soldier in Afghanistan
35 thousand to lock a Black kid
the world is a messed-up place
and you seem to be profiting nicely
noise-canceling headphones
blocking out ambulance and
police sirens in the faint distance
a Palestinian kid was shot in the back
the bullet subsidized by your tax dollars
the guy who used to deliver your weed
was just sentenced to eight years
the drone buzzing will be heard
one day over Brooklyn, but it will
skip your gentrified neighborhood
you have nothing to worry about