Education – The Beat Of The Street Poem by C Richard Miles

It’s the beat of the street that we need in this nation
If you want to tell the kids; go get an education
You’ll have to show ’em it’s a sort of salvation
From the me-now lifestyle that just craves titillation
On sleazy easy street; it’s a sad situation
For they moan that work and college don’t bring much motivation
And it’s not just a matter of mass communication
To appeal to bored teenagers of this generation
It’s the beat of the street you’ll need in preparation
To get across your message in this no-hope nation
Shouting it louder won’t cause the creation
Of a change of mind for a new determination:
You just risk creating apathetic alienation,
So tell ’em it’s a source of self-preservation,
That a word’s like a blade to solve a situation
If you use it skilfully with deft discrimination
That cuts down an enemy without aggravation
And settles the score without recrimination
And perhaps you won’t be met with cold condemnation
And the youth will engage with fresh participation
If the beat of the street can be their education.
Yes, the beat of the street can be their education;
The beat of the street must be their education.