Poetry For Everyday People
The Nerve Of Humanity
What amazes me still
is the nerve of humanity,
not that I'm not prepared
for it or don't know how
to handle it but really
the nerve of humanity,
the looks, the behind
the backs, the hand shakes
backed by lies, the smiles
of evil, the racist jokes,
remarks, the stereotypical
ignorance, the breaking of
livings instinctual laws,
by the time I was sixteen
I can spot it a mile away,
the sarcasm, the sales pitch,
(I escaped being kidnapped in
Egypt when I was eight by
not falling for his con
and running the hell away
from him),
but you know what he did, he
knocked on our door and I told
my mother there was a man trying
to kidnap me and she smiled, I said
don't open the door, she was on
the phone talking to my father, she
opened the door with the chain on
and the man said that my father sent
him to pick me up,
my mother told him alright, closed
the door, locked it, hung up the phone
with my father and called the police,
the nerve of humanity, those men in
Egypt that whistle and yell at every
women that walked by, ran after them,
brushed against them, scared the hell
out of them, I screamed and
yelled at everyone of those low life
cats that whistled at my mother or my sister,
I always felt I can eat those guys up
even as a child,
we moved to America when I was ten
and that's when I went from the all
Egyptian boy, to the boy with a weird
name, the camel jockey? sand nigger?
the boy who didn't speak English,
so fight him, pick on him, put words
in his mouth, surround and follow him
home (with a vibe man you didn't need
to understand the language to know
what they were saying),
and I was always sad by it, never
scared, just sad, I wanted to make
American friends, not fight everyday,
or have people make fun of my name,
but I did, learned the language, made
many beautiful American friends, became
a Dallas Cowboys fan, a Bruce Springsteen
and the E Street Band fan, Bob Dylan Fan,
Buddy Guy fan, Muddy Waters fan, Duke Ellington
fan, Billie Holiday fan, Nikki Giovanni fan,
Bukowski fan, Etta James fan, Bessie Smith fan,
Luther Allison fan, Langston Hughes fan,
Frank Sinatra fan, Nat King Cole fan, Jimi Hendrix fan,
sweet potato pie fan, hamburger fries and ketchup fan,
the nerve of humanity to push you down when
all your trying to do is live, stab your back
when you're just working to make a living for
your family, start rumors that have nothing to
do with you or your life, B B King was a slave
as a child, he went to Memphis as a young teen
and saw a black man hanging dead in the middle
of town for people to see, I think he was
thirteen or fourteen, he became the
king of Blues.
man the nerve of people, they'll use you, use
God, use an elderly person, use a life challenged
person, sell children, they'll put a collar around
your neck if you let them or if they can force you,
steal from family, steal from someone that provided
them with a job, steal from a neighbor, leave a so
called dear friend behind,
no peace in site when we got those kinds of brains
operating in places we (the sane ones) know they
shouldn't be operating, the right questions don't
get asked to eliminate those who do not subscribe to
simple equality, simple morals, the simple pursuit of
happiness (right on Will Smith) the right people
aren't asking them, back to the inside job, the fix
is in, money's agenda rules the world,
poetry saves it.
What amazes me still
is the nerve of humanity,
not that I'm not prepared
for it or don't know how
to handle it but really
the nerve of humanity,
what keeps me going
are the good ones.
is the nerve of humanity,
not that I'm not prepared
for it or don't know how
to handle it but really
the nerve of humanity,
the looks, the behind
the backs, the hand shakes
backed by lies, the smiles
of evil, the racist jokes,
remarks, the stereotypical
ignorance, the breaking of
livings instinctual laws,
by the time I was sixteen
I can spot it a mile away,
the sarcasm, the sales pitch,
(I escaped being kidnapped in
Egypt when I was eight by
not falling for his con
and running the hell away
from him),
but you know what he did, he
knocked on our door and I told
my mother there was a man trying
to kidnap me and she smiled, I said
don't open the door, she was on
the phone talking to my father, she
opened the door with the chain on
and the man said that my father sent
him to pick me up,
my mother told him alright, closed
the door, locked it, hung up the phone
with my father and called the police,
the nerve of humanity, those men in
Egypt that whistle and yell at every
women that walked by, ran after them,
brushed against them, scared the hell
out of them, I screamed and
yelled at everyone of those low life
cats that whistled at my mother or my sister,
I always felt I can eat those guys up
even as a child,
we moved to America when I was ten
and that's when I went from the all
Egyptian boy, to the boy with a weird
name, the camel jockey? sand nigger?
the boy who didn't speak English,
so fight him, pick on him, put words
in his mouth, surround and follow him
home (with a vibe man you didn't need
to understand the language to know
what they were saying),
and I was always sad by it, never
scared, just sad, I wanted to make
American friends, not fight everyday,
or have people make fun of my name,
but I did, learned the language, made
many beautiful American friends, became
a Dallas Cowboys fan, a Bruce Springsteen
and the E Street Band fan, Bob Dylan Fan,
Buddy Guy fan, Muddy Waters fan, Duke Ellington
fan, Billie Holiday fan, Nikki Giovanni fan,
Bukowski fan, Etta James fan, Bessie Smith fan,
Luther Allison fan, Langston Hughes fan,
Frank Sinatra fan, Nat King Cole fan, Jimi Hendrix fan,
sweet potato pie fan, hamburger fries and ketchup fan,
the nerve of humanity to push you down when
all your trying to do is live, stab your back
when you're just working to make a living for
your family, start rumors that have nothing to
do with you or your life, B B King was a slave
as a child, he went to Memphis as a young teen
and saw a black man hanging dead in the middle
of town for people to see, I think he was
thirteen or fourteen, he became the
king of Blues.
man the nerve of people, they'll use you, use
God, use an elderly person, use a life challenged
person, sell children, they'll put a collar around
your neck if you let them or if they can force you,
steal from family, steal from someone that provided
them with a job, steal from a neighbor, leave a so
called dear friend behind,
no peace in site when we got those kinds of brains
operating in places we (the sane ones) know they
shouldn't be operating, the right questions don't
get asked to eliminate those who do not subscribe to
simple equality, simple morals, the simple pursuit of
happiness (right on Will Smith) the right people
aren't asking them, back to the inside job, the fix
is in, money's agenda rules the world,
poetry saves it.
What amazes me still
is the nerve of humanity,
not that I'm not prepared
for it or don't know how
to handle it but really
the nerve of humanity,
what keeps me going
are the good ones.
Comment On This Poem ---
The Nerve Of Humanity
The Nerve Of Humanity
