On Children / Born Anew at Each A.M.
Piri Thomas
[This poem is read by the author 
]
The street’s got kicks
like a bargain shelf,
In fact, cool-breeze, it’s got
love just like anyplace else.
It’s got high-powered salesmen
who push mucho junk,
And hustlers who can swallow
you up in a chunk.
It’s got lights that shine up
the dark and make the scene like new
It sells what you don’t need
And never lets you forget what you blew.
It’s got our beautiful children
living in all kinds of hell
hoping to survive by making it well
Swinging together in misty darkness
With all their love to share
Smiling a Christ-like forgiveness,
That only a ghetto cross can bear.
Oh yeah.
The streets got life
like a young tender sun,
and gentleness like
long awaited dreams to come.
For children are beauty with a right to be born
No to face racist’s scorn,
Our children are beauty
with the right to be born.
Born anew at each a.m.
Like a child out of twilight,
flying toward sunlight,
Born anew at each a.m.
This poem appears in In Motion Magazine, 1995.
Piri Thomas also reads Marilyn Buck’s “For Vieques, In Solidarity.”
About the CD | The Poems | The Contributors | About Marilyn Buck
poems © the authors
compilation © The Freedom Archives
