Woman Day

Well, this is the reason to write poetry
And poetry isn’t something
A few people do
It’s something nearly every one does

If no one believed in it

The human race wouldn’t
have lasted
This long

Babies, birthday parties, the weekend,
A Good Time, picnics, baseball games,
Halloween
Smoking weed and talkin with friends
Are all very poetic

Well here’s a poetic moment:

This girl sitting on your lap
Smelling of cigarettes and
Perfume

Young smiling and laughin
And lookin into each
Other’s eyes so seductively

That it arouses you, with loud
Music playing.

She’s like you, and not a whole
Lot of people are like you.

You dance with her, and she has
The rhythm down.

This motion: the going up and down
The beer, the cigarettes

This magic moment should
Last for ever
Like the song goes

Or maybe longer than
It does

- Damion Hamilton

(featured in the poetry forum 12.10.09)

What you want to be

Well, I never wanted to be anything
When I was a kid,
I probably made up some shit
But I didn’t really want
To do anything
Everything was so far out of
My reach
Everything took so much time
And hard work
And I am easily distracted by
Most things
I fell asleep in Algebra class

Didn’t want to dress out
And play in gym class
Didn’t want to participate
In after school activities

Those closed classrooms
Took so much time away
From you
And the only time I was
Happy in school
Was when I ditched it
This has hurt me in the
Long run though

I don’t have my own place,
I don’t have a well paying job
Nor a girlfriend
But I couldn’t understand how
Doing well in school
Could get me these things
Most things back then
Seemed foolish and dumb
And they continue
To be
As I type this

- Damion Hamilton

Unbelievable

What you would put your body through,
You know, like waking up with your
Legs and feet killing you
And someone is bitchin at you about
Something down at the job, and you
Just want their ass to be quiet
While you nod from Valium—which actually
Helps you to do your job better
And a couple of ladies tell you that
"They would go crazy if they did
Not have a job."
And you ponder that claim you realize
That you could do something better
With your time than this like:
Listen to music, learn to play a musical
Instrument—write a symphony, I haven’t
Seen too many movies, finish reading
The bible, learn how to cook, read
Some more, write some more
Then you realize that the world
Could care less about good
Music
Pimps, hookers and drug
Dealers make a lot more
Money anyway.

- Damion Hamilton

The blues

I got them man,
I don’t want to get
Out of bed,
It’s a Sunday (used to be my favorite day)
Now they seem so sad
Someone I loved died a few months ago
And it still bothers me, and the others
Around me
I got the blues---down and low
And nothing will make me laugh
I buy a kid’s harmonica from a local
Walgreen’s
While fucking around with the girl
Who works there
But she don’t want be bothered
And I can understand this
I take Lexapro and Valium to
Deal with another work
Day
But I don’t take it on weekends
I just drink
And after being brushed off
I feel cold, and I brood
I get home and play the harmonica
I learn I to put my fingers on the
Thing, and just blow
Just blow man
Like those old blues musicians,
The song sounds cold lonely
And sad
To me
Which is how I feel
But the music of the centuries
Feel my lungs
And I start to understand
Humanity through a little
Kid’s toy harmonica

Then I start to warm up,

And forget everything,
And just blow
It’s a simple gift to one’s
Self that keeps them alive
Or from
Falling into madness
Inhale and blow

- Damion Hamilton

On Drugs

I know some dealers and some users
Some who are very close to me
I’ve seen drug addicts destroy homes

And destroy the unity of a
Family
But I’ve also seen drug money
Put food in some kid’s mouth,
Put a roof over there head,
And clothes on their back
And that seems like a beautiful
Thing to me,
But it’s hard to forget how drugs
Destroy people, and the family
Around them
But you think of kid with
A full belly, who might
Have otherwise starved,
And you’re not mad at the
Dealer
And users—well life is hard
And not all us are suited
For the hard balls life
Throws our way
Then you think about this
And think
It’s either a win situation

Or
A lose lose position
And don’t know
I’ve pondered this for
Years with no answer

- Damion Hamilton