in response to an interview with Rep. Paul Ryan on Bill Bennett’s ‘Morning in America’ radio show.

if you’re driving by these blighted neighborhoods you need to get involved

today we’re carpooling to
ferguson and i need to get gas
and pay rent.

didn’t want to get out of bed
today and go to work ‘cause
this blue-black anger swallowed
me whole.  ‘cause yesterday
felt like two weeks ago and
‘cause rage grabbed hold
both my lungs.  today i feel
capable of so little but i’m
lucky i’ve got time to give.

                                                ‘a boy has to see a man working’, that’s this
                                                spiral we’re looking at in our communities

today its two texts from aunt
kimmy and a missed call from
mom. tomorrow aunt bonnie
calls.

‘cause she won’t let another
aiken boy be shot dead.

                        two days ago it was me and my
                        blank computer screen and its 
                        lack of answers ‘cause yesterday
                        i saw my entombment in every
                        article i read and ‘cause today
                        my heart can’t handle white
                        prescriptions like it used to

                                                                        we’ve got this tailspin of culture
                                                                        in our inner cities of men not working

today it’s 3pm and my white
friend asks what i’ve been
‘up to’ and asks if i went into
work today.

                                                                        just generations of men not even thinking
                                                                        about working or learning

                        ‘cause tomorrow i’m flying across
                        that body of water where so many
                        bodies still float.  today i’m reading
                        about oxford and guilt kisses my
                        lips.  yesterday my boss asks what
                        my brothers do and he smiles big
                        when i say they both finished school.
                        tomorrow i dream about a police car
                        pulling over a school bus because this
                        more or less is what they do.

today it’s 2 weeks since Michael
Brown was killed.

                        ‘cause every internship doesn’t feel
                        worth shit and resumes are on paper the
                        same way indictments are not and tomorrow
                        on the plane the women next to me will be
                        so nice because of how not uncomfortable
                        i can make my blackness be and ‘cause

                                                                        the value and culture of work

today i skipped work
and almost gave up
God.

                        didn’t think slow death should look so much
                        like sleep ‘cause dying in the street is a just
                        a part of this country and tomorrow killing in
                        this city is just a man doing his job ‘cause

                                                                        there is a real culture problem here

today i got out of bed
to go to CVS and get
some razors and then
got back in bed.

                        ‘cause being followed around in a store
              reminds me that i was born a ghost ‘cause
              some days over-enunciation is not enough
              to be seen ‘cause some days i am just here

                                    to be dealt with

‘cause some days i know that this heart
is doing all it can to survive ‘cause

today i woke up and
chose to get out of bed.