The Suburbs

Amidst the flurry of green vegetation, bricks and siding,
Are shiny, expensive automobiles gliding smoothly
Over pavement lacking potholes, past pedestrians
Who walk safely under eternally lit streetlights,
On sidewalks with no cracks,
That form right angles, and circles,
Where teachers, policemen, and engineers dwell.
Laws are always abided, and taxes are always paid
In houses with blends of perfection that are entirely imperfect.

There is a reluctance to accept the inevitability
That floats through the air and afflicts all it encounters.
It spreads through the seeds of the land
Rendering them naive to the force of life,
Flowing strongly and surely through their veins.
As "things fall apart and the centre cannot hold*",
A beat bursts through the silence, piercing the eardrum,
Rendering it deaf to all parental sounds from long ago.

Life has forced its way in, and is forever here to stay,
Only to some, an acquaintance worth keeping,
And to others, a fool not worth their company.
It is an affliction that doesn't discriminate,
A shade that exists in many forms in many places,
And is just as omniscient as its creator,
For just as joy lives in the hearts of the Poor,
Tragedy, too, can strike in the Suburbs...
-Akeem Lawrence, 5/4/08


*From William Butler Yeats’s 1920 poem, "The Second Coming"

Forever

I sometimes feel as if I have been here forever
Moving rapidly, and slowly at the same time
As though I know so much, yet so little
And I am everything, yet nothing…
I suppose this is what forever feels like
So rich, yet so poor,

Barring me from this crowded, yet spacious house
Where the entrance is my front door
Although I have come so far
I have yet so far to go
At times, it is wearisome not to see the end of the line
But comforting to know that in Forever
All mistakes are erased
And I can start all over again, a couple of times
Within my own life, exist three lifetimes
Forever is precious, and only comes once
Yet it lives here forever.
I suppose this means there is really no time Here
Just space to do as you wish to do, and create more space
That Forever belongs to no one
You might as well get settled in
And make it all your own place.
-Akeem Lawrence, 4/17/08