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.
From Post Traumatic Hood Disorder (Sarabande Books, 2018). Copyright © 2018 by David Tomas Martinez. Used with the permission of the poet.