P oetry R epair S hop 1999.09:099
- CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL POETRY
- by new, emerging, and established poets

STEVE CROSS
Teacher, Teacher

I hate the way kids look at me
like I'm some warden shackling them to chairs
whitewashing their minds, aborting their inner child,
sucking it out into the world to die
writhing in dumpsters.
 
I hate it when they do not see that it's
only wisdom that sets them free.
The blur of drugs and drink, the ever shifting
flights of video nights, institutions that lock
them into rigid rooms -- these, not me --
destroy them with the tempting fruits of fun,
freedom, and holiness
that when swallowed sour in the gut
and poison,
suck their power
like a wound
that drips blood
drop by drop into the mud
until they collapse upon themselves.
 
I hate the way kids look at me, eyes glazed over,
they do not see.

Poem copyright 1999; all rights reserved. (If you wish to copy this poem, please contact its AUTHOR).