They’s killin’ babies back there.
I can hear’em plain as day
but no one’s noticin’
and I guess I best don’t neither.

Then I’m next in the coffee shop line
last outta the rain, with no more
than a cuppa coffee
and a smoke on my mind.

Been walkin’ three days straight
those voices dead and damned
not far behind, not far at all.

They ain’t dyin’ for nuttin’
no matter what I’m aspose to believe.
And I ain’t the one’s killin’em either
not me, no way siree. Keepin’ m’nose clean
mindin’ my own like the doctors say to.

Just can’t get’em out, is all.
“Get Out!” I’m tellin’em but they won’t
let me alone. Those poor kids screamin’
screamin’ like there’s no t’morrow.

And me, my mouth full of horrors
just itchin’ to be let out, set free.
One endless blood-curtlin’ cry
‘til my lungs collapse into themselves.

No easy answers, say the doctors
in their glass-tower offices
with their pressed suits and pressed hair.
It all takes time, they say. It all
takes time.

And I think, “But what about those kids
what about them?”

Then I wonder, “Maybe they know sumtin’
maybe there’s more!”

Outside, a streetcar all red
and screechin’ iron passes.

I look up into each window, my hands
graspin’ the cold formica countertop

and in their reflections
I see a bloated, angry sky
watchin’

Keyword: Back There

Report this story | Add to Favorites | Send to Friends | Author's Profile

No Comments posted

Comments (4)

Posted by ThomasP3 2008-04-04 07:08:42 .... This made me think. I liked it. It could mean something different to many people, I think. No matter what side of the aisle you fall on. + Report this comment
Posted by Captain Morgen 2008-04-04 18:31:19 .... Its well written and the idea is definitely original. Though it doesn't seem like it has actually ended. Just a little more clarification is need in the last line. Just a suggestion though. + Report this comment
Posted by lorislittlesecret 2008-04-08 07:38:41 .... I am not sure what to make of this...especially when a lot of your stuff is so light-hearted + Report this comment
Posted by SA Dave 2008-04-13 14:14:34 .... I was in the mood for writing one day and found myself in a coffee shop staring at an empty page in my notebook, as if often the case. Because the front of the shop was so bright with windows, the back of the shop seemed dark and noisy. Somewhere back there, a baby was screaming blue murder. It was a bit distracting, but I really wasn't giving it a lot of thought. Then, the woman beside me said, "What the hell are they doing, killing babies back there?" That was the trigger from which this poem came to life. + Report this comment

Post a comment

Post a comment