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.