! Wanksta! Poem by Michael Shepherd

wanksta

a one-line poem in itself;
a sociological truffle
to be sniffed, snorted and snaffled
by academic hogstas;

a British schoolboy taunt
for a sad loser
with more than a hint of
adolescent sexual guilt
and strengthened by the shouts
of football terraces

now fierce with
the combative
minority-to-majority
two fingers to Culture
black ethos of the deprived
asserting its claim,
rappin ' on the door, yea, rappin' on the door
of that same Kulcha

yet mediated by the assertive
individual competition
of those same cultural fighters
taunting each other,
schoolboys with loaded guns

wanksta

wanksta, wanksta,
yo ain't no gangsta

a word that's all front
and no back

but as a poet
I enjoy it

this youngsta
kidstar
on the block
of living language