#streets
pennies rattle the can
silent paper notes flutter
-from hand to hand.
the market place
where many dreams
-come to die.
a cold pavement
for a bed
-the blind pass by.
blinded by self-regard
forever pointing out
-the scapegoat.
Feb 8
Feb 8, 2026 at 9:51 AM UTC
The vestiges of slavery methodically remain.
Blacks are being killed in broad daylight daily.
Blacks are discriminating against systematically.
Systemic racism is a cancer with a behemothic pain.
The symbols of slavery refuse to evanesce like
A shameful cloud lazily hovering over our head.
There is too much hypocrisy around the sad bed,
And too many racist tail-waggers are ready to attack.
Too many unwell uncle toms are not emancipated.
This is still a highly peculiar world. People don't mean
What they mean and many impostors can't be trusted.
The struggle must continue. Fights are never clean.
Backstabbing is prevalent. The injustice is unbearable.
Life is precious and priceless and yet hope is inevitable.
Copyright © June 2020, Hébert Logerie, all rights reserved.
Hébert Logerie is the author of several collections of poems.
Jan 24
Jan 24, 2026 at 1:48 PM UTC
It is thy love for a concrete street. A haven of sorts. A home to the weeds of the garden of life. For I grow in the cracks of your floor, gaining perspective from those who have endured the process of fruition. I must survive this love of mine, for the street would be the death of me.
Dec 9, 2025
Dec 9, 2025 at 8:35 AM UTC
I am one who knows
the streets that run
through the shabby
houses and abandoned
warehouses of my
hometown ravaged by
depression.
I sift daily through the
shambles of that nearby
ghost town, stifling mind
and body's urge to stiffen
in its own grip
as I take my daily hobble
down the straight and
narrow driveway of a
quick fix ambition to
the neutral, tarnished
armored messenger
standing by the roadside,
holding high his red
flag lifted as a sort of
triumphant battle cry
or a sign of warning.
I approach this messenger
with hope of receiving
the promise of yet
another Golden Age boom.
But I know more so the
wooded paths gliding
aimlessly amid fallen
needles of pine which
repress unwanted but
necessary undergrowth;
and the cheering leaves
of the slight wistful
poplars spiteful diverting
of my attention away
from the
strong and silent oak.
I kick up leaves in defiance
of the fallen leaves of a soul
in a midsummer's dream of
a soul covered by a
deceivingly comforting
white shawl of a slow-
creeping season.
I once strode proud and tall
down and through these
streets and roads, paths and
meadows, winding and stretching deeper into the
summer of a clear-sighted
tomorrow.
I am now slightly bent
with a walking stick of experience, hobbling
down and through streets
and roads, paths and
meadows, dense thickets
and swamps, winding and stretching deeper into the autumn of a somewhat
dim-sighted tomorrow.
Nov 25, 2025
Nov 25, 2025 at 9:00 AM UTC
The doors of the churches and the schools are closed.
No decent people are on the streets,
Where we see sad crimes and horrible abuses.
Many windshields are broken by badly thrown stones.
Violence rains in the streets and in the corridors;
No dogs or cats dared to vent outside.
A few meager birds, on the branches, stare with disdain
And amazement several thugs and charlatans with masked faces.
It is sad to see these heinous crimes. How awful!
There is a hostile war? One wonders which party will win?
We can hear the voice of an old man coming somewhere
Who shouts faintly, "We are all poor victims, sad tramps,
Who are committing suicide for bad politicians, for misers. "
Not too far, we can see a crazy woman with a close friend,
Both in rags. It's a nightmarish image that proves
That the country has become a hell on earth. On the radio, they say
That some ships of the United States Navy are in the harbor.
What are they doing on our territory? We flee,
Or we do not flee? We cannot. Everyone is in prison.
Violence snows blood on the streets of a tropical country, where fear
Reigns. Children do not dare to play in the streets, where terror
Hisses like snakes, like machine guns of the enraged demons.
No war is civil or civilized; war among the same people is also violent
And nefarious. My God, things are very bad in the streets nearby.
Violence is raining and everyone is crying. Victims are everywhere at bay,
Waiting for the arrival of the good angels, who shall come perhaps in a few months.
Copyright © June 2019, Hébert Logerie, All rights reserved.
Hébert Logerie is the author of several books of poetry.
This is a translation of the poem La Violence Pleut Dans Les Rues by Hebert Logerie
Sep 11, 2025
Sep 11, 2025 at 8:27 AM UTC
Les portes des églises et celles des écoles sont fermées.
Aucune personne décente n'est en effet dans les rues,
Où l'on voit que des crimes abjects et des horribles abus.
Plusieurs pare-brises sont brisés par des pierres mal lancées.
La violence pleut dans les rues et dans les corridors;
On ne voit ni les chiens, ni les chats en dehors.
Des maigres oiseaux, sur les branches, avec dédain et stupeur,
Regardent plusieurs voyous et charlatans au visage masqué.
C'est triste de constater ces crimes odieux. Quelle horreur!
Il y a une guerre hostile? On se demande quel parti va gagner?
On peut entendre la voix venue d'un vieillard de quelques parts
Qui crie faiblement: « Nous sommes tous des pauvres victimes,
Des clochards, qui se suicident pour des politiciens, pour des avares. »
Pas trop **** on peut voir une femme folle avec un ami intime,
Tous deux en haillons. C'est une image de cauchemar qui prouve
Que le pays est devenu un enfer sur la terre. A la radio, on dit
Que quelques bateaux de la Marine Américaine se trouvent
Dans la rade. Qu'est qu'ils font sur notre territoire? On fuit
Ou on ne fuit pas? On n'en peut pas. Tout le monde est en prison.
La violence neige de sang dans les rues d'un pays tropical, où la peur
Règne. Les enfants n'osent pas aller jouer dans les rues, où la terreur
Siffle comme des serpents, comme les mitraillettes des démons.
Aucune guerre n'est civile et celle d'un même peuple est aussi violente
Et diabolique. Mon Dieu, les choses vont très mal dans les rues avoisinantes.
La violence pleut et tout le monde pleure. Les sinistrés sont partout aux abois.
On attend l'arrivée des bons anges qui viendront peut-être dans quelques mois.
Copyright © Juin 2019, Hébert Logerie, Tous droits réservés.
Hébert Logerie est l'auteur de plusieurs recueils de poésie.
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Sep 11, 2025
Sep 11, 2025 at 1:12 AM UTC
Flashing speeding lights
The city streets bathed in neon
Our hearts tied as one
Sep 7, 2025
Sep 7, 2025 at 2:19 PM UTC
You used to be my best friend,
now its like i never existed.
I used to be your best friend
now its like you never existed.
Thanks for the help dad
i try not to be mad
but knowing you choose
drugs, Burglary
living on the streets
Over a relationship with me.
makes me wonder
why I'm not good enough..
You don't even have to give that up.
Just wish you'd call and say what's up.
Do you sleep peacefully?
Is there any guilt or remorse
when you think of me?
do you even realize
what you did to me
when the personal creator
who birthed me
Tragically departed the earth early
only two weeks after turning 18.
You were nowhere to been seen
searching for your teen.
Her heart
she let open bleed
at that fateful scene.
But if you're wondering,
I'm alive and occupied,
attempting to mend
These shattered dreams of mine
I don't despise.
But I do wonder why
I was a sweet young girl
taking on a new lonely world.
You'd be proud to know,
i conquered it great
with no supports
and did what it takes
to adapt and outlast.
Forced to mature too fast
i forgive as a daughter,
but as a father
i can never understand
abandonment as your plan
thus forfeiting
being a man.
Grieving you,
but your not dead
Your lost in your head.
Eighteen -
supposed to be
when my life started..
But everything i loved,
departed.
Grieving a mother
Wondering
what happened to my father
Its not fair to me,
nor to the men i meet,
that i want them to fill the emptiness
that you could easily complete.
I run when I feel love.
I'm terrified to open up.
For they may take it and run
I will do me.
You do you.
Once i fully make peace with the truth
I can be the me
that was free
and full of life
before you disrupted my upbringing
------
Now I'm 28.
I've processed the pain
And I'm done playing
the waiting game.
I no longer wish for you to care.
To be there.
I accept what is here.
Ive had many nights
Where I wasn't alright
Flashbacks arrive
The little girl
wonders why.
But, I did something different this time
As I seen her in my brain
I allowed the pain.
Drop out of my mind
And into my body.
Experienced fully.
Hyperventilating,
body convulsing
Hardly breathing
I finally let my body feel
the pain I felt was real.
I never allowed it.
So I never healed.
The inner child,
She had to die
So I can mature
And start to raise
my standards high.
1/3/26
Jul 16, 2025
Jul 16, 2025 at 4:00 PM UTC
I saw
in the streets —
dead people
walking;
(tiptoeing...)
They’re
not deceased,
nor are they
alive.
I saw
in the streets —
that desperate
hustle;
(grinding...)
They’re
not hungry,
nor are they
satisfied.
I saw
in the streets —
the filthy rich
and the poor;
(begging...)
They’re
not affluent,
nor are they
the *******
I watched,
and wondered —
am I
one of them
too?
I saw
in the streets —
the appetite
for more;
(hungry...)
They’re
not content,
nor are they
dissatisfied.
I saw
in the streets —
dead people
walking;
(tiptoeing...)
They’re
not deceased,
nor are they
alive.
No one’s
screaming,
but I still
hear the
sirens —
As they
pick up
the dead
people
walking.
Jul 1, 2025
Jul 1, 2025 at 11:25 AM UTC
Cut the Music, let the Nights play –
Resting my mind in the tune of Your sweet voice
Cushions and songs; the city lights Purr
Always so Curious about what happens in its
Streets – like a cat at any twitching thing
As I searched for the key to all her lost dreams;
Tears in their place, those Girls lost in city streets
The Room was messy, a light bulb barely flickered
In the dark nobody sees your tears, Your forced smiles
Yet, we always know that silhouette touch of a body
Sadly, curiosity seduced Me; loneliness consumed Me
Gentle perfume pulled me inside, to Sweetened eyes
My cold heart was Searching, that it sank in warm music
Under the Canopy shade of covered sheets, vowing never
_To leave –_
Jan 24, 2025
Jan 24, 2025 at 4:19 PM UTC
It's hard to understand, unless
you've been there.
There is a pull to the streets.
I can't count how many dead
end jobs I've held—how many roach
infested rooms I've
crashed in.
The inevitable day comes when
I tell the boss, 'Fuck You, I don't need this **** '
I walk out into the misty
afternoon—I look left, then right.
I drowned out thoughts of the future with
a cheap pint of *****
I see one eye George on my travails,
he's half-lit—living in the woods.
'Don't let the ******** get you down.' He says, as he
stumbles by bent, and taking a standing eight count.
Mickey the ****** stops me a
block from my flop-house.
'Tommy boy, I'm sick…gotta a couple of bucks so
an old drunk can get well? '
I slip him a five.
He says with a tear in his eye,
'God bless you Tommy—you know I
had it all, I'm afraid the
streets own me now.'
'Keep your chin up' I say as
I plummet down the
street, pretending
tomorrow is a decade away.
I climb the three flights of
stairs to my room,
slip the key in the lock,
turn the knob—it opens.
'I love these little miracles' I say under
my breadth.
My three-legged cat Walter saunters up to
me—he's white with marmalade splotches.
He does his best to rub up against
my leg—I pet his matted fur.
I passed out in an alley one
night, and woke up to Walter lying next to me.
I think something crawled into
my ear and made a home,
it's been there ever since.
I crash down on my chair,
and watch Walter scratch at
the door with his one front leg.
He hasn't been neutered—he gets the
pull of the streets.
I let him out and take a long swig of
the vodka—the potion does its magic.
Life doesn't look so bad,
there will be other jobs, and I still have
two weeks left in this
dump of a room.
A writer needs four walls—yet there is
always
the pull of the streets.
Jan 21, 2025
Jan 21, 2025 at 2:24 PM UTC
Alone sits the tower's bell,
In the glow of lantern light.
Looking out at the town,
Silently gazing upon the night-fell streets.
Every day, the elders yearn to hear it ring again,
They want to hear the sound they know.
From their childhood, they remember,
What it was like to hear the bronze ring echo.
Yet, the children,
Don't have a chance to forget.
Jan 15, 2025
Jan 15, 2025 at 4:19 PM UTC
About an abandoned city,
where the wind is the only inhabitant,
knocking on windows and singing
through the empty streets.
Dec 23, 2024
Dec 23, 2024 at 4:45 PM UTC
These ole' Ghetto streets
You got beef??
then bring the heat,
Don't make this an issue,
I might just diss you,
When You living in the hood, and
you wish a n**** Would!!
Aye, you good???
Everything's Aiight!!!
Aye, Ya'll cool???
Yeah we tight???,
Trash all over the place,
it's just a sin and
a shame it's such a disgrace,
Get outta my face, or
Imma put you in your place,
Don't make a sound,
not even a peep,
Can't keep your mouth shut,
then take several seats,
It's about to go down,
IN THESE OLE' GHETTO STREETS!!!
B.R.
Date: 10/29/2024
Oct 30, 2024
Oct 30, 2024 at 3:34 PM UTC
do you remember when
all that mattered was
holding his hand
and smelling the sun
on his sunburnt skin
laid on sun-set sand
do you remember when
the only song you knew
was his second name
and now the only dance
your feet understand
is a stance with his toes
can you take me back
the night i cried
like how lampposts died
asking myself why
your moon only shines
when you speak of his smiles
could you take me back to sun-screened streets
where all that mattered were
our touching feet
Feb 1, 2024
Feb 1, 2024 at 4:50 PM UTC
You've had this thought before
The flowers on the window sill
The distant sound of a radio
The streets
The grass
The stars
The sky's dome above your head
Everything is normal on Earth
Exactly as it is now
Look up at the sky
God is in his heaven
God is in his heaven
A god who's very very silent
Home awaits
A beautiful serene place
Of mystery
And peace
The one thing you will never find again
All the love and patience of your friends
The tenderness you feel
You no longer live there
Those times are gone
And so are those people
Why did you come here?
Why are you still here?
You don't know
The freedom of finality
That's all you have now
The great see-through world
All things bright
Only you remain
You against the nothingness
It's not fire
It's not ash
Everything is calm
You can only sense the shape of it
A pit opening up in your stomach
A blank space
With no point of reference
Something that has always been there
A new reality
Barely out of sight
Where only one type of motion is possible
The motion of a human throat swallowing
A throat into which the world will vanish
What strange words to celebrate a new world
No cities
No oceans
No mountains
You can breathe now
And finally
Dec 14, 2023
Dec 14, 2023 at 6:09 PM UTC
Pretty Cat, Kitty Cat.
U stole My Heart, this morning.
Pretty Cat, Kitty Cat.
Let's watch the Stars burning.
Pretty Cat, Kitty Cat.
Where did u learn to purr?
Pretty Cat, Kitty Cat.
You're a Kitten fully of fur.
Pretty Cat, Kitty Cat.
Your Heart, was Once My Home.
Pretty Cat, Kitty Cat.
Don't in the streets, U Roam.
Pretty Cat, Kitty Cat.
Who, let the Dogs out?
Pretty Cat, Kitty Cat.
Why do U make me Shout?
🤭
Nov 18, 2023
Nov 18, 2023 at 8:46 AM UTC
There was a guy
Who always felt like
He could just slide through
All of the days,
Riding a high, feeling
Like he could just
Shuffle the haze,
They thought him crazed;
They called him Teddy,
And this guy was ready
To help you let everything out!
A piece and a quarter,
It's all you let over,
And he would just rise up
And shout!
Said "I'm Teddy xans, so
Give me your hands,
And let me show you
What it's 'bout!"
I told him, pass me
A couple of bars,
Let me raise up
To the level you're on,
Pass me the liquor,
Let's crash us some cars,
End up with flex,
So what's coming next?
He was perplexed,
Said 'what does that
Make us?'
I said "relax, dude
We're just from Texas;"
He said "go on, we've got
Time to spend,", I said
"I'm halfway dead,
Old friend,"
He said "no worries,
We're not in a hurry,
Just rack em' and
Stack em' , and let em'
Be buried,
Your wants, your needs,
Your life in the streets."
I asked him,
"So what does that
Make me?"
Aug 27, 2023
Aug 27, 2023 at 12:28 AM UTC
Outside on the city streets the wail of sirens
But me! I'm not concerned
'Cos I got ***** ***** made of Iron
Yeah! ***** of Ire..Ron, ***** of I-Iron!!!🎵🎶🎵
Hey Mister I ain't a Boy and I ain't your Son
Me! I'm just a... I'm just an Angel without a gun.
Jun 4, 2025
Jun 4, 2025 at 6:47 PM UTC
There are
Streets that cry,
Bleed and sigh,
******* with you,
Til' you can't
Sleep at night...
Streets that you
Feel like can
Read your mind,
Streets that you
Just can't
Leave behind.
There are
Streets that cry,
Bleed and sigh,
Filled with the
People who just
Breathe and die,
There are
Streets that cry,
Bleed and sigh,
And streets that
You never want
To leave behind...
Apr 29, 2023
Apr 29, 2023 at 7:51 PM UTC
You don't know me.
I don't know you.
You pass by me,
Every day,
On the crowded streets.
You say hello; I say goodbye.
You serve me food,
Ring up my beer,
Tax my cigarettes.
I give you money,
And your life goes on.
We see each other often.
But you don't know me...
Apr 22, 2023
Apr 22, 2023 at 3:57 PM UTC
I've felt the cold,
Of winter midnights.
The things you see,
Upon the streets.
I've lived through guns,
So many fistfights,
And all the things
They did to me...
It ain't the same,
Every morning...
Somebody new
Wakes up as me...
And I don't know,
Just where I'm going...
All I know,
Is that I'm free!
There are no chains!
Upon me!
There are no chains!
Upon me!
Well, I can see,
The stars now,
And I know what lies
Beyond...
Cause only glory
Waits for me there,
And all the things,
Of which I'm fond...
Another glass you
Raise to me!
For when I'm dead,
And when I'm gone...
But you remember
What I say, now!
Cause we'll be friends
Long when we're gone...
And I can see it...
That gray day.
And I can smell it!
That horrible rain!
But I don't feel it...
There's no more pain.
And nothing,
Will ever be the same...
Dec 7, 2019
Dec 7, 2019 at 9:48 AM UTC