AND ONE

Look at the homie,

even when in a gang

he came home to crack Nietzsche, Beyond

Good and Evil, Will

to Power. Believing everybody dies at twenty-four,

not seeing a future in pump-faking, even then.

You ever try to read philosophy high?

Gone to the hole and hoped for the foul,

wished only to finish.

After rolling joints in two Zig-Zags,

after an hour of starching pants,

he transferred trollies and buses.

He’s going places.

Look at homie, trying to fix himself. Thinks,

out of repetition comes variation.

It takes a lot of effort

to look

like you’re not trying.

It should be an air ball

to go to college

at twenty-one, the father of two, just

to play basketball. When

most folks say they want to change the world

they mean their own.