PBS - Senior Year

Jerry Quickley

I'm caught between a rock
and a hard times place
what's the difference between violence and grace
the inside of a casket is silent
and so is the science of fate
I can't roll with the new without clean slates
same dream all the time, so now before I sleep I hesitate
I'm with this other first string kid, just before the flash
I'm like WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, nah, nah WAIT, WAIT, WAIT

Games Over

And it's too late

There's soap in my eyes
But I'm still trying to see
some other life
some other life
some other life
caught between the black and whites
and full scholarship penitentiaries
between lives knocked down like bowling pins
and me just trying to be me
sometimes I can't tell if I'm asleep or awake
I'm working so hard to create this dream state
It feels like I'm falling in a silent forest but maybe it's just the trees
maybe it's the grass and the bonsai's breaking through the concrete
stumbled and defeated by the beauty inside me
the more I stare the less I see
the more I stare the less I see

running the gauntlet
between bangers and police smacking their upper lips
like either way I'm tonight's supper dish
between 5 - 0 and brothers with less
self esteem than their ancestors possessed
I want to create more than public school crumbs
I reject the prison stripe cumberbuns
constantly encouraged to make moves of self-defilement
sauteed in muted hums
a little peace here
a little piece there
the space between me an NFL autographs
is filled with mock justice and ill math
right now mad stress represents as mental health
fraction and partition myself
into contortionist revision and gift boxes

I want to flip the script on the tribe of hounds and foxes
try to cope through resurrections of double helix paradoxes
sounds like toxins drifting from my unconscious
my pupils still show traces of pyramids and crops of cotton
the extra effort in extra classes seems forgotten
I'm constantly injected into parables of the mountain and Muhammad
I instantly reject the free falls off two summits
I instantly reject the free falls off two summits
there's hope over here and fear on the other
All I got is brains and heart and that's just cold comfort
All I got is brains and heart and that's just cold comfort All I got is faith but the scales are slipping to second guessin'
it was all clear before but now my whole life is in the form of a question
it was all clear before but now my whole s is in the form of a question
right now my whole s is a question

that's all I got
questions

Jerry Quickley has performed at venues and festivals across the United States and abroad. He is a three time Los Angeles Poetry Grand Slam winner, and a two time National Poetry Slam finalist. He has been featured and published in several anthologies, magazines, and newspapers including Time Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, SP Mag, Beyond the VCP, LA Weekly and The Village Voice. His work is published in the book "Soul of the Game" (Melcher Media:1997), Slam (Penguin-Putnam:2000) and he is the editor of the anthology "Juke Joint Magic" (Juke Joint Still Press: 1998). Jerry also runs a Poetry in the Prisons workshop at Central Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles. Twice a month he visits Juvenile Hall in East Los Angeles to work with the incarcerated youth and teach them poetry and writing skills and to help them craft their stories into art. Both "Pops" and "D's Question" were inspired by teens in the series, "Senior Year" and written specifically for the program.

D's Question
Written and Performed by Jerry Quickley
©2001 Jerry Quickley

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