Quite Honestly

All those who speak to me
say something bad to me,
Looks pretty bad for me,
Looks pretty bad.

All those who look at me
look pretty sad to me,
Faces look sad to me,
Look pretty sad.

Sometimes life gets to me
Moaning and blasphemy,
Life holds no guarantee –
Just how it is.

Try to remember me
Try to quite honestly
hold faith in destiny
greater than this.

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Bad

I remember well the stretch of his vest
as she pulled him towards her, across the school desk:
a little woman, with thin purple lips.

You are bad, she mouthed –
at six, he would have smelled her hot breath
and felt her spittle on his skin.

I remember then how miss told him:
You will never amount to anything.