Sleepless Nights

I dream on sleepless nights

That we can reunite in the ether

But neither you nor I were believers

So I won't see you in the light

When all that's left is darkness

It's hard to keep on doing right

You either are defeated

Or weakened by the fight

My achievements may be meager

But I reached them when I tried

And it seems to be a feat

Just to be the one alive

With my freedom

Not deceased

Or doing time

Waiting for release dates

Being waked

Or cremated

I can't conceive how I'm survived

You see it in my features

With crows feet beside my eyes

The creases getting deeper

The Grim Reaper's drawing lines

These teens will keep repeating

What they've seen unless

We teach them not to die

But I can't reach them

Even though I've seen

The horrifying hardship

That is life

You can call me crazy

But I know more people

Incarcerated

Than live the college life

So you cannot debate me

While I walk through graveyards

Like a high school hallway

I hear them softly

Call my name

Telling me to stay here

Turn them into martyrs

So it all was not in vain

We all too often are forgotten

By the progress being made

All of the hypocrisy

When our problems

Aren't acknowledged

Largely because of our race

As if the color of my skin

Will admonish me of pain

I wonder where's my privilege

While drop outs hang in the park

And the cops are in my face

When kids were robbing

Banks and pharmacies

Oxycontin was a plague

It never made the news

Never on the front page

So I made a promise

That I wouldn't just walk away

I'd harness what I harbor

In my heart

Be honest with my hate

Pay homage to the fallen

Honor them

By not falling for the bait.

Mark McLaughlin a.k.a MC Diatribe

 Having grown up in the blue collar city of Somerville, Mass., Mark became involved in community activism after witnessing many of his peers succumb to the cycle of substance abuse, violence, and crime. When drug abuse claimed more and more of his loved ones and gentrification began displacing his friends and neighbors, Mark channeled his own personal pain and the struggles of his community through activism, art, giving speeches and writing poetry. 

Under the stage name MC Diatribe, Mark is also a spoken word and rap performer who uses the medium to spread his message even farther. His music is available to download here.

Follow him on Twitter here.

Like him on Facebook here.

Check him out on YouTube here.