Poetry

The black and Brown kids locked in tiny pods 
banged their fists and penises against the plexiglass 
                "I´m gonna get outta here 
                 and rape yo whole family" 
  
and the white stooges just called them animals 
while they counted crisp bills to be spent 
on county board meetings in Hawaii, 
  
          and those poor kids wasted 
in a catch-22 without knowing 
nor caring to understand 
           the horrible game 
they´d been forced to play 
  
pretending not to think 
about their 16th birthdays. 
  
  
  
Sometimes rumors would filter back 
     "so and so was raped" 
     "so and so is in the hospital" 
  
"so and so is gettin off cos evidence 
     is circumstantial" 
  
Most never left their blocks, 
trains through other hoods 
were gauntlets 
and   
there were 12 hour days on the corner. 
  
They were handed pieces with promises 
that a couple years in juvi 
"wad´nt shit"; 
14 year olds don´t get tried 
as adults. 
  
  
  
Close to their 16th Birthdays 
they now scream like animals 
pretending not to think about 
what happens to boys to young to shave, 
and how many cigarettes a human being is worth.