there’s a boy with a sharp smile and twinkle in his eye
he carries a toy briefcase and waits for real life
he sings in the shower
and soapsud, toy-rubber-ducky dry
he ignores the dead
the dead born dead
i’m talking about crip walk play grounds where crippled kids laugh
not knowing their laughing bellies will soon be shot at bullets
and they’ll bleed out onto the pavement
red eyes, red lives.
red white and blue.
right now the children surround a wishing well
painted with star spangled banner words
they dig for pocket change,
in unison they close their eyes
and drop their pennies in
white boy’s got a quarter.
