His notebook was his canvas
He painted such a beautiful world
Such an artist
Drawing with his words and with his verbs
Not quite like the chalk drawing that outlined his body in the crime scene on the street curb
When his momma heard
She screamed and
She fell to her knees and
Called on Jesus
Then with God she begged and she pleaded
Not for her son and
Not for her self
But she prayed for the world and all that it needed
Defeated by
The laws of the hood
The politics of the block
Life on the corner and
This street and that set law and order
Momma said do good and
Momma said live right and
Momma said say your prayers every day and every night
But Momma didn’t tell him about the wrong side of town or
How to act or a plan of attack for
When the goons come around
He passed and some weeks passed too
And then one night all of sudden and out the blue
Momma took his notebook out of his room and
She flipped through the pages and she looked to the moon
Then she apologized for speaking too soon and
For letting her son believe the world was so beautiful