My People

by Damion Hamilton
　
I have been searching for most of them,
My whole life,
I'm self educated, and have never related
To the so called college educated or the middle class
I’ve read a great deal of the classics: Poetry, Fiction, Philosophy and
History
　
But it never help me relate to the educated ones
　
Hell, they don’t even read most of that shit
　
But sitting in a holding cell, and being surrounded
By my kind
　
They could care less about Tolstoy, Kant or
Pablo Neruda or Whitman
　
And that’s quite all right with me
For they welcome me, even when they do not say a word
　
They wear their opinions on their face
　
And we are all being fucked by something greater
Than ourselves
The oppressed ones, the abused ones, the poor ones,
Mentally unstable
Just trying to get by, and being booted in the Face by The
System
　
Alot of them have low paying jobs and want to get outta
Jail and to those jobs in the morning
　
Or else they may be fired.
　
Their violations so fuckin minor
A car issue-- a speeding ticket or parking issue
That they could not may or afford.
And then having a warrant placed of arrest,
　
Then having the police pick them up on traffic
Violation
　
And it’s back to the fucking jail
　
The majority of the jails or like this
　
Hand cuffed and frisked, hoping to make a collect
Call to anyone in the middle of the night,
So they can keep their jobs in the morning