I’m tired

Of the look

Insolence interrupted

By the jaundiced-whites

Harbingers of your future

What do I care?

Of your English grade – 32

Why should I care

More than you

Or your mom’ s not

Your dad’s what?

They made it harder for you

You make it hard for me

To care – the cycle

I dare to meet

Those eyes

You raise

To the sound I make

What you care to hear

Around the earbuds that let in

Only the nuance of thuggery

Now

Waiting at the school door

For pick up

Graduation?

To the line at the Mobile station

Bathroom – the 8X8 cell where

You’ll lose your innocence again and again

So don’t move – keep the look

Dare me to care

If you have

Your homework