Society
By DI
If I was able 2 be me
I would
I would smile, I would chill
But I can’t
I can’t become great
I can only become a statistic
I guess it’s the American Way
2 kill, 2 deal
2 spend my life in jail
2 die for nothing
Or stand 4 something
Livin’ in darkness
Is what they want
Stop my brightness
Is what they can’t
Unity is what we need
But realness makes ‘em faint
Ask me why I feel this way
And I would say
I was born this way
They made me this way
Who did?
Does it matter?
Do my thoughts count?
In your eyes, am I just a body count?
3 Comments
Leave a Comment
The poets featured here are currently incarcerated, and many of them are in federal prisons far from home. Your feedback is a valuable source of motivation and connection to the outside community. Post your comments, feedback, and encouragement in the space below the poem. Messages will be passed on directly to the author. Comments may not appear immediately on the site, as our team processes them to mail to the poets.
Such a mixture of despair, anger, pride, powerlessness–all in one poem. Partly I like that complexity–it’s not simple what you’re dealing with. And partly I wanted to see if, in the poem, you could reclaim more of your self in the face of society (whoever that is). I wanted to see you as a poet work through the tough reality behind the line “I can’t become great” (because it’s not true, of course; think of Malcolm X–“just” another black hoodlum in jail, for a while) and “In your eyes, am I just a body count?” Why, I wondered, did the strength of the line “Stop my brightness is what they can’t” disappear by the end? It’s true: I don’t know your situation. Your poem at least began to make me want to understand it.
I agree with Ed’s comments– there is so much strength in this poem, but it leans so much toward despair when it is clear that you the poet are strong enough to overcome other people’s perceptions of you. You’re frustrated, and for good reason, but that doesn’t mean you should just give up and become “just a body count.” In fact, it should make you want to do the opposite, and “stand 4 something” and become great. Maybe “they made [you] this way,” but that doesn’t mean you have to stay that way. Prove them wrong. I know you can.
Okay, DI, more questions than answers — it’s a good place to start. But like Mr. Ed Jones before me, I hear the rightness of your brightness, and yes, “da struggle”.
–Grandpa D.