3-year old among 13 shot in Sanford Fla., or Chicago?

Ok, Chicago’s the, “Murder Capital” of our society but alas, Is there any truth to less gun violence if certain bills pass?

Salem-News.com

(CLEVELAND) - 3-year old among 13 shot in Sanford Fla., or Chicago?

Thursday night basketball at a south side Chicago park,

Gunfire amidst chaos as shots echoed loudly in the dark,

Our culprits? DreadLocked men in a dark colored sedan,

The tally would have been even greater had some not ran.

Mr. George Zimmerman did not get dressed up in a wig,

Isn’t this incident & those like it worse than what he did?

How many Black Entertainers boycott Chicago, Illinois?

And why wasn’t this 3-year old home playing with toys?

Ok, Chicago’s the, “Murder Capital” of our society but alas,

Is there any truth to less gun violence if certain bills pass?

Tougher sentences & extended penalties with stiffer fines,

  Enough of time off for good-behavior do every bit of time.

Julian Harris told the Sun-Times culprits shot at him first,

He escaped unharmed while his nephew received the worst,

3 are in critical condition with 10 reported serious or fair,

So late at night what in the heck was a toddler doing there?

Looking back at Delbert (88) Belton and Christopher (22) Lane,

In a car, jogging alongside a road now playing a basketball game,

All innocent victims to say the least but notice it is not confined,

First offense or not, a conviction of CCW requires serious time.

A gun’s no more dangerous than a car when the vehicle’s parked,

An idiot behind the wheel is dangerous in daylight & in the dark,

Police officials declined to discuss details of the investigation so far,

One thing’s certain, it involves 2 deadly instruments, a gun & a car.

Shooting hoops at, “Back Of The Yards” before this incident begins,

 Was there anyone in Chicago on the lookout for George Zimmerman?

The city’s, “Labor Day Weekend” 20 were injured while 8 fell dead,

NAACP is still crying foul about Sanford, Fla. I’m shaking my head.

By Luke Easter

We live in a world of social & economic injustice. The main reason for founding America in the first place was to relieve the oppression of the King of England. Patrick Henry said it best, “give me liberty or give me death.” And yet, all too often death seems to be the only way out. Why is there such a high suicide rate especially among teens, in the land of the free & the home of the brave? What makes headlines? Good news? Ha! More depressing stories than anything else. I feel poetry takes an edge off the hurt of bad news while still delivering it but in a, “glitzy” sort of way. Giving a different perspective. Kind of like slap in the face as opposed to a knife in the back. At least with the slap you’ll live to see another day and you will know whom it’s from. I wasn’t here for the beginning of the world but at 59, I just might be here for the end.

Even though it’s still a knife, rhyme poetry helps to dull the blade. And that’s my job. You can write to Luke Easter at: lyricsfromlucas@aol.com