Somewhere Outside by Jennifer L. William

Somewhere Outside

by Jennifer L. William

Somewhere outside

Someone is being raped

A child is being beaten

A country is starving

Gunshots echo

in civilized streets

marking out young men

who will never know

more than concrete towers,

steel bars,

and fear,

An 11-year-old

prostitute,

tears long since frozen

behind her eyes,

Swallows a pill - her only hope

to numb away

her life

And here I sit

My biggest problem - my waistline

By biology quiz - six out of ten,

My roomate who won't clean

her half of the room

Boy, I have it pretty bad