Historical Excuses Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

'We've grown tired of seeing,
Foreigners coming into our communities.
Taking 'our' jobs away.
To leave us with nothing.
And with a doing of it,
As if 'our' needs do not exist.'

~That's not entirely true.
You still have your excuses and complaints,
To make.
They have not taken them.
The liquor stores will still remain,
To numb your head through the week.
And on the weekends your depencency on drugs,
Will not stop you from finding a 'dealer'.

And...
IF you wanted to work the jobs are there.
But you want to get paid for not having...
Motivation, discipline, dignity or self respect.
And getting a job to expect requires experience.
But the time that takes...
You would rather sit and procrastinate.
To then not want to listen to comprehend,
Lessons taught to keep your mouth closed.
Instead of pretending to be knowledgeable,
About something mentioned that offends...
Your kept ignorance.~

'Yeah, but...
You don't have to talk 'down' to me like that.
My ambitions and dreams have been oppressed.
All of my attempts to make,
Have been beset by obstacles and opposition.
To leave me and everyone else you see,
Doing the best we can to overcome.
And one day. One day...
We SHALL Overcome.

~And I don't see it to believe,
Foreigners have come here purposely...
To take any of your insecurities away from you.
In fact...
The only thing I see them taking away from you,
Are the opportunities available you could have had...
Without making your kept historical excuses.
While awaiting for that one day to overcome them.~