I want to paint a picture,

I want to use an image

so you can visualize the torment

that only few can make concrete in their minds eye,

I want to give you the opportunity to use your eyes,

as I explain to you, yet another teenage issue…

but God has not given me the gift of an artist,

 

I can’t paint,

I can’t sketch a silhouette out of coal, 

I can’t even draw

All I have is my words, and with these words,

I want to word my sentences and phrases

in a way that will penetrate thru your vocabulary

and changes how you select your words,

when dealing with an infectious disease as this one.

 

This disease strikes

fear in the hearts of millions going

to school everyday,

this disease causes people to stand by

when they see their peers about to kill each other,

this disease put guns in our schools,

anxiety is our lives,

and makes the death rate rise amongst youth every year.

 

Violence is the number one killer of man-kind.

 

Joshua is 10 years old and

skips school everyday because he

knows the minute he shows his face

he will be faced with the decision to fight or flight,

his face is stained with the expression of avoidance;

he wishes not to stare in the face violence. 

A wall on the corner of my street is stained

with the graffiti of bloodlines that define

the reason why parents don’t want

their child to walk down the street.

 

Headline:

Innocent Child shot while standing

in front of her own house…

Headline:

School Riot in Cleveland, 10 students expelled

Headline:

Success Tech shooting, many shot, one killed.

Why are their so many headlines that outline

this disease and make violence a celebrity?

Why when you open a newspaper,

switch to the radio,

or turn on the 6 O’clock News

Violence is there once again being interview?

 

How does one stop an epidemic

When people find the disease so attractive?