John Sensele Poems

Born in the ghetto, put on my mettle
Too early in life, poverty rife
Taken long in school to settle
I appreciate graces and blessings in my life.
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Happiness harvested from whims and wishes
Happiness flashed and hushed in fetishes
Serves and preserves no benefits
As ventures and adventures yield no profits.
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Never again should innocent lives vanish in vain
Cos machineguns marshall greater protection
Than students' lives. Marjory Stoneman survivors chant ‘Never Again'
Should indifference and insensitivity buttress inept inaction.
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Easier from a bush to take a man
Than from a man to take the bush
Cos bush sinks DNA into Salman
Making removal hard to push
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Early rise, sonorous sleep, ceaseless schedule, yellow uniform
I bundle my books, handle my hair and sprint to school
To learn motivating material from a peerless physical platform
In caring classrooms with a practical portfolio pool
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Asinine alcohol alters me into a paper sniper
Ready to bounce and pounce on any challenger
Who dares to dance his lance in the path of my pied piper
Primed to civilize and sanitise viewpoints of an avenger.
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Friendship and kinship
Advertise;
Necklace and bootlace
Accessorise;
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Prickly wrinkle
Weekly tinkle
Leave me alone.
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A brand new day in my home town dawns
When innovative ideas imbued with empathy strengthen bones
To afford the vulnerable occasions to fete
Events in rents, scents and tents that uplift their fate.
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Grief, you kick me when I'm already down
Although I haven't teased or gazed at you
And you etch on my weary face a frown
That I hate to display at the bayou.
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