Photo: pixabay.com
“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” Martin Luther King Jr. (with echoes of Edmund Bourke).
No Jibe Talking
The hallways offer up a lifetime of
stale urine and cigarette ash,
I don’t think the cleaner turns up,
sounds and smells
flit in and out of my consciousness,
TV coming from 16,
laughter from 20,
someone talking loudly on the phone,
34’s door is badly fractured,
I smell Cabbage.
The hall light is flickering,
its life almost over,
like some in here,
blondie from 47 is remonstrating with
a mean looking guy,
I slow as I near her door,
blondie is holding her ground,
something about money,
she gets paid tomorrow,
I hover,
then, just for fun,
I start knocking on doors,
time for a show,
mean man slows his patter,
adjusts his stance,
everyone watching,
he climbs down,
then starts to leave,
“I’ll be back if you don’t pay”
He glares,
Don’t bother mate, she says,
we’ll be here waiting for you,
we all laugh,
here, we’re all at our wits end,
but there’s no jibe for mean guys,
we stick together.
©Paul Vincent Cannon
Paul, pvcann.com
parallax 
Yes, the one action we can’t afford to take is none at all.
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So real and sad. Good write Paul.
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You don’t really live here, right? But even if you don’t, you minister to spirits who do. From a place of actual understanding. So rare, so precious.
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No, I live in Australia, but we have similar social issues, makes me so mad. Thank you Ana.
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😎
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Sounds like a tenement I lived in in the sixties!😂
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🙂 I called them two showers a day tenements – got less dirty at work.
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silence of the good, safe in their apathy – very powerful words Paul.
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Gina many thanks for this, love your response.
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https://mwsrwritings.com/raka-award-nominations-4/, I nominated you for this award.
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Brilliantly written!❤
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Thank you so much Richa, appreciated
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I love your stance, Paul!
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That means a lot Winnie, thank you
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My pleasure, Paul!
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ouch …
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Exactly, difficult, and frustrating
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but so powerfully expressed, nailed it again Paul!
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Well, I really appreciate the encouragement.
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lol I don’t think I have ever had a 100 likes even with my reblogs and you are consistently scoring more than a hundred with each poem … you don’t need any encouragement Paul!
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I must say I thought my poetry had something to say, but I never quite envisaged such an amazing response, and you have cheered me on.
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oh so have all your readers Paul, you really are a talented wordsmith you just needed time to emerge from your cocoon 🙂
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Yes it was a bit wooly in there, too long, on other days – the right time 🙂
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yes, hoping I have some hidden talent that will suddenly emerge one day 🙂
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It’s there, it’s there 🙂
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ok give me a clue … please 😉
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I think the answers are both in your work as a whole, and the meaningful comments you get.
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ooh food for thought, thanks paul ⭐
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Start dining 😉
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⭐
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Great narrative poem – the beginning of a book??
>
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Yes, I wondered that myself
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