vacancy

i can't sing about
affirmative action
welfare lines
drive by's
and gang wars

but i can tell you about
cowardice
liars
rape
and cocaine

i don't know
cancer
car wrecks
abortions
or death

but i've met
anger
hate
razors
and pills

i don't understand
God
science
math
or the universe at hand

but i can write about
art
movies
music
and love

i can bleed as well as the next wet soul
i can starve over food and attention
i can ache over my lover's wrongs
and weep for the fall of the sinners

i cannot undo the lies of the world
the deaths of the innocent
or the moments of fear

i cannot save this place from its darkness
but i can be swallowed up too

i can fill voids with my ashes
unwrite this blood lined vacancy
and hold human life in my hands

hold it like you hold your heart
and keep it pumping with my comfort