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Katelyn Knapp Jul 2013
Existential cruelty of a long abandoned Friday
Remembered once, twice
then forgotten by 8 pm.

The shots of Chiraq and memories of Hatshepsut linger effortlessly on his doorstep in the dark of sunlight,
but smiles in his lap disappear on the pavement beneath skyscrapers
before the dead of noon.

His mind travels to the curvy bodies of Monroe types.
A palm, a fist, a thumb
caress ******* and legs before he wakes
to find hair on his pillow and lips in his face
where only days before a yellow sky and bright green eyes waved and faded.

And all because interracial pride and prejudice leaked toils and tensions in the face of Basquiat
Where once African princes and white German queens
spent Tuesday afternoons charming their ways into each others' beds
and sighing at the disgust stamped on the faces of strangers.
King Bacon Dec 2014
I erupted through that birth canal,
My mind was never narrow it must of hurt my mama, ow!
I used to hate my cousins how miss them, nephew looks older now.  
I promised I will never leave them ,but Chiraq got more dangerous how?

Lost a friend, put a poster up
Have you seen this child?
Bro, can't you just grow up
I redefined existence,
Instead of finding God, I found religion
I am just a product of what my dad, and mom were sippin’

Every second is pivotal, the sand of times went digital
try to pass God my problems, but every play's a give and go
Smacked my face through these walls, fight battles that ain’t mine
spit similar similes sing symphonies to this heart of mine,
But if I pray long enough will I continue to sin
Will God give up or will I give in?
Someone took my innocence, but gave me a voice
Tell free will I am sorry but I never had a choice.
Should be studying for finals.
Mark Sep 2019
Yo, word up with you, my drug running mule  
It'll cost $30.00 ok? I've got it right here, so don't drool  
Put that **** in your mouth, too *****  
Yo get bumped with that ****, yo aren't gonna get any Cuban cigar  
Done, another bag of crack, sold  
Be on ya way, you've been told  
 
I'm Skillet and I'm 19, I've been doing this ****, since I was 15, man  
You've gotta feed yourself, 'cos nobody else going to be able to do it, like I can  
We grew up without mothers and fathers around us, do you feel me?
You've got to be your own father figure and steal, you see  
Get your own money out here, however you like  
'Cos no one's gonna to give it to you, not even brother Mike  
  
I get crack on credit, and sell it for $10.00 a rock  
After a long day of moving product, back at the trap house, we use a big lock  
The real work begins, splitting the take. 1st up, the crew take their cut  
Between the 3 of us, we're gonna split a $400 profit, off the ounce  
It works out at about $13.00 an hour, not bad for a daily rut  
We count on volume to make ends meet, for me and my louts  
 
It's not too much, but it's about the quick flip  
We aren't really thinking about making too much money, it's just a real trip  
We're worried about getting it in and getting it off  
So we can stay with it, you feel me you toff?  
The rest of the cash goes up the chain, to the crews drug supplier  
He's a regional distributor, that works with the cartel, it's a no brainer  
  
You have to pay him or you'll be six feet under, you'll be smoke man  
******* smoking for that account man and his Mexican clan  
Where we're from you've gotta keep it with you, not he  
Or somebody will run in your trap or something, you feel me?  
In 2014 there were over 2,500 shootings in Chicagoland  
Everybody out here are either thirsty, robbers, killers or Alice in ******* wonderland  
 
You gotta keep your eyes open for the haters, you might see  
They'll try and take you down, 'cos they ain't eating, you feel me?  
It's all out war everywhere, except ******* communist North Vietnam  
That's why we call it Chiraq, because it's so ****** up over here, ****  
You don't know where it's coming from, man  
Your ***** would cross you for a couple of bucks  
That's how it is, yo gotta keep your pistol close, even when you call the ******* waiter  
If not, ya gonna get got, much sooner, than later.  
 
Skillets homeboy Breeze, is always ready with a gun  
He's had plenty of practice and not just for fun  
I use this all the time. ****, if I had to swap with someone, that belong  
**** be getting hot, you can't keep the hot ones for too long  
There's my baby though, as McDonalds say, 'I'm loving it'  
All we need is that money, man, that's all we care about and ***** ****.
Butch Decatoria Sep 2020
A Buster is busted.

Figuratively disfigured

Mayhap way he speak?

Not just slow

Cuz he got flow

Figured out the Hustle

Keeps on and on and on and...

"This **** Life—brothas Broke!"

Sweet Swisher Blunts

Swish and stunted swoosh

Jumping hoops

(For who?)


Busters are Busted.

Vigorously. Voraciously.    

(Or rock-steady Kool)

And the gangs’

Got gats & silks

Tommy-guns Polishing

(Head like a hole...)

Our whips.

Our babies.

Our Peeps

The War / The Streets

The Word itself, asleep...

Sweet Tea at the ready!

They're thirsty in

CHi-Raq.
Qualyxian Quest Sep 2020
Said David Brooks

(who still has never apologized
despite the literally hundreds of thousands
of innocent Iraqi dead)

Meanwhile, David is still a pundit
For PBS and the New York Times.

Disgusting.
Qualyxian Quest Aug 2021
60637
Chicago on my mind

The British love in heaven
Seek and ye shall find

So long David Brooks
You deserve Chiraq

Peace to pizza cooks
Fr. Greeley's books come back

Both assistance and attack.
Qualyxian Quest Sep 2020
The Neocons

Same as old Old Cons.
Qualyxian Quest Sep 2022
The pain of goodbye
A stab
A strike
An ache

Chicago
Chiraq
ChiTown
Lady of the Lake

Saint Augustine
San Francisco
San Diego
Santa Rosa awake

My chaotic life
Hospitals
Lithium
Meaningless, but not a mistake

                   Nagas Snake
Qualyxian Quest Oct 2022
I tried to woo her back
Probably didn't work
Cool in the air
Happy Halloween

I like my Uncle Jack
Purdue and then Purdon't
Holy Toledo, Batman!
Billy Joel magazine

I pray for troubled ChiRaq
Giordano's pizza
Father Andrew Greeley
I sent Alex Things Not Seen

When anxiety attacks
Help me to go slowly
Fight through to the light view
3017

              Sacred Queen
Qualyxian Quest Oct 2022
Soon Samhain
The return of Irish fire
He can pay your mortgage
But I can take you higher

When I was in Dublin
I saw the Book of Kells
My father wore his flight suit
Green, protective smells

The Dead are hidden in Zero
The Aztecs do their dance
The smiling, friendly waitress
Amelie in Paris, France

The Dead are hidden in Zero
Emily was called back
My mind on Toledo, Ohio
Green eyed Mountain Jack

                ChiRaq!
Qualyxian Quest Feb 2021
blue to orange to black
i walk forward. i walk back.
charlottesville to chiraq

            O brother!
Qualyxian Quest Aug 2021
I definitely trespassed
She said please stop and I stepped back

Neil Diamond for Aunt Barb
Yes for Uncle Jack

No romance with women
Chicago and Chiraq

I'm tired, bored, lonesome
Dark brown more than black

     Somethin's out of whack
Qualyxian Quest Aug 2021
It had to be in poetry
In poetry had to be
She saw 37
37 for my 3

Portugal's Fernando Pessoa
Souped up 72
Postcards to New York
Do I break on through?

Woke up in the Queen City
Attack back to Chiraq
Shipshewana, Indiana
My charming Uncle Jack

Mark in Sacramento
Me in Chapel Hill
St. Augustine in Hippo
Love and do what you will

                  Still.
Qualyxian Quest Jul 2021
Is it just an imperfect world
Or is it godforsaken?

The news at nine o'clock
Your faith it can be shaken

Then there is Chiraq
The West Coast now is bakin'

Yearning purple sky
Drivin' while I'm achin'

                  Twilight!
Qualyxian Quest Jul 2023
I miss taking trains
Peaceful in the night
Speeding Shinkansen
I got a Ticket to Ride

American women betray you
Best to leave them be
Moroccan mint tea
Lovely Malahide

Inner Harbor, Baltimore
Quiet, lonely, walking
Romeo and Juliet
Cannot be denied

Flight to Copenhagen
Soren Kierkegaard
Staunton for the Bard
George W. Lied

                  Chiraq!
Qualyxian Quest Aug 2021
Repeal the 2nd Amendment
72 on my phone

Terror in Chiraq
Me I live alone

The American Abyss
The Pope at home in Rome

Embers: that final kiss!
San Diego's own

         Pax Vobiscum
Qualyxian Quest Jun 2023
Kendrick Lamar, 2 first names
Inside my DNA
South Side of Chicago
Chiraq, USA

Coach Brian Katz
Timothy and the Cay
Still learning, burning
City by the Bay

           Yea, verily. Yea.
Qualyxian Quest Aug 2021
Guilt: such an unpleasant thing
But our sins are unatoned
Iraq and Chiraq
The Pope in distant Rome

All these poems, time tick tocks
Meaningless maybe
Tonight a little sleep
I miss my distant 3

                I miss me.
Qualyxian Quest Aug 2021
The basketball player and the cheerleader
My romantic teenage nights

Long before Chiraq
Cars, not mystic flights

Now my Letter to You
Now silence. Now the church.

Farewell and Adieu
The silence is the search.
Qualyxian Quest Aug 2021
Repeal the 2nd Amendment
72 on my phone

Terror in Chiraq
Me I live alone

The American Abyss
The Pope at home in Rome

Embers: that final kiss!
San Diego's own

         Pax Vobiscum
Qualyxian Quest Aug 2021
Chiraq and Chapel Hill
Find a way to help

Stanley Crouch until
Miso soup with kelp

This kind takes prayer
Silent Celtic Cross

Beautiful brown hair
Father Greeley and the Boss

          Guidance please.
I like the Inner Harbor
I just walk around
Everybody knows
I am the newsboy of this town

America began in genocide
Slave labor too
I see all the animals
At the Pondicherry Zoo

3 prayers for Chicago
Or should I say Chiraq?
I like ACDC
I like Back in Black

Fatherhood is joy
Thank you, Life, o yes
Will I die in pain?
Anybody's guess

        Break the press.
Qualyxian Quest Aug 2023
America began in genocide
Probably how it ends
They got a divorce as a matter of course
And parted the closest of friends

I'm fond of little Reno
Less fond of Chiraq
Tecumseh the Shawnee
Detroit does attack

Little library is quiet
Meditation hall is glass
The beauty of her hair
The beauty of her ***

California snow
Wind to water to waves
Ashes to the ocean
******, gamblers, slaves

                   Ishmael!
Qualyxian Quest May 2023
I wrote to Dr. Robert Coles
Kindly he wrote back
2 years in Reno
1 year in Chiraq

Our politics is hideous
Our border it portends
I am not a saint
I hope for future friends

Europe is more beautiful
Stockholm, Florence, Rome
Bangkok to Siem Riep
Very far from home

One life, one life only
Disappear forever
Gracias senyorita
Sacramento Heather

           together
Qualyxian Quest Sep 2020
George W. Bush
Killed hundreds of thousands of innocents
Now he paints in Texas

Kensington is coming
It will bring its Xs

I studied in Chicago
Spike Lee says Chiraq

The bombs fell in Baghdad
But the sins are coming back

                   To attack.

— The End —