http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Listening
to a group of youths chatting amongst themselves on a bus, I was appalled to
hear how they all but revered one of their friends who had recently been jailed
for a knife attack on someone.
I bet
they wouldn’t think prison was so good for street cred if they were there, locked up for much if not most of the time and deprived of their freedom all the time...
The
majority of young people are decent, hard working, good people. The tragic irony is that the relatively few bad apples
in the proverbial barrel have the same
potential if only they would acknowledge the common sense in getting their
priorities right, the courage to resist peer pressure from the wrong parties
and make the most of that potential instead of whining about how the better
opportunities never come their way.
Prevention is better than cure. True,
luck can play a part in whether or not opportunity knocks at our door, but
mostly we have to take a good look around, see what there is to be had that we
want and is worth wanting, and ...
GO FOR IT.
Did I say
it was easy ...?
EXTRACTS
FROM A PRISON DIARY
A
neighbour slipped out to buy bread
and…was
shot dead;
Hoodies
cheered, one waving a gun;
(Who’s
next? Could be anyone...)
I thought
I knew that hood inside-out
till I
heard a devil yell, “Shoot!”
A face in
shadow, but I knew the voice;
what
happened next, my choice
Mates say
guns are a must (gang culture),
a
necessary feel-good factor;
suddenly,
blood on my designer shoes;
heads
cops win, tails I lose
Emergency
sirens blasting at my head,
(Like it
was me shot someone dead?)
I knelt
by the body and called out a name;
the only answer,
howls of shame
I was
told to wear a white shirt, black tie
for the
funeral, but it was a lie;
what
difference if I’m dressed up smart?
Better
jeans, hood, a caring heart
Later
(crying in cuffs) taken back to prison,
old
mates, some hoodies, looking on;
Drugs,
booze, skipping school, what matter?
It was my
finger on the trigger
The idea
of prison hadn’t bothered me
(I’d seen
cool shows on TV);
the
reality? I am as meat in a lion’s den
only…torn
to pieces by men
Oh, to be
a schoolkid again, a wiser one,
who would
never carry a gun…
nor would
I mistake everyday life for dull,
but get
an education, enjoy to the full
Like bile
on the tongue, every word written
for tears
and fears I keep well hidden
or drown
in each lonely day’s angry swell
crashing
down on this, my life, my cell
[From: Accomplices To Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2007]
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