Poetry by J. Pharoah Doss

TWO POEMS

By J. Pharoah Doss

Saturday, July 23, 2011.

BLINKING GREEN

my home town’s corners are cracked

crumbled

a 24 hour rush hour
a no big deal traffic jam
between broken borough lights

blinking green

cracked glass, busted pipe dreams,
& magazine shells litter cracked sidewalks
driven by the night before
afternoon crack sells & cracked knuckle brawls
entertain cracking up crumb snatchers
returning from crumbling schools

every evening

street strung high heels barter crack head
behind corner stores robbed by numskulls
coroners eventually examine
from boarded basements

and the corner stoned saved peek
from behind cracked
church doors

SPOILED

   She bragged about spoiling her three children

I didn’t understand why a parent would boast about purposely flawing a child’s character     through indulgence

Then I remembered a lot of parents make no distinction between parenting and providing

   But she bragged: MY KIDS DON’T WANT FOR NOTHING

The comment amused me because as long as I lived I’ve never heard a child say:     MOMMY I WANT NOTHING

   All children want something that their parents can’t provide
      (for example different parents)

She continued:

   ALL THREE HAVE THEIR OWN ROOMS
   ALL THREE HAVE THEIR OWN TELEVISIONS
   ALL THREE HAVE THEIR OWN DVD PLAYERS
   ALL THREE HAVE THEIR OWN CELL PHONES

And:

   ALL THREE HAVE THEIR OWN DADS

Spoiled lucky bastards

I had to share my father with my three siblings

J. Pharoah Doss was born in Pittsburgh in 1975. He attended Geneva College. His writing has appeared in The New Pittsburgh Courier, The Shepherd, and Commonline/The E Journal.

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