PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

I have a friend named Joey Brown

he's not just like me and that's cool

cause we're still brothers

and I've still got his back

and he's got mine

and I'll remember him forever

and he'll never forget me.



Joey's black and I'm white

Joey's thirtysomething and I'm fortysomething

Joey's an addict and I'm straight

Joey's dead and I'm still living.



We came from different sides of

the same track

Joey was lower middle-class black

and I was lower middle-class white

We went to the same school

Joey played football

and I played basketball.

And he always looked for me in the stands

and I always found him cheering in the bleachers.



One day Joey and I were out shootin' hoops

down at the old schoolyard

shooting J's with the locals

and acting like kids again.

It feels good to go back sometimes

to play the fool and step away for a while.

That's the last day I saw him

three shots later I was cradling Joey in my arms

crying like a little kid

red blood stains covered my hands

my shirt, my sneakers.

Debts paid in full by drive by.



Joey's black and I'm white

Joey's thirtysomething and I'm fortysomething

Joey's an addict and I'm straight

Joey's dead and I'm still living.



Not a day goes by that I don't think

of Joey.

Black and white photographs...

now bookmarks in all my dailys,

now crowd my refrigerator,

my computer screen,

my dashboard.

Now grow as a tree

in my front yard garden

where I can remember forever

and never forget, Joey.



A little bit different

but a little bit

just like me.