In response to Mayor Flynn's recent comments: "It's time to stop giving out lollipops and put these kids away." and to the six shootings in one night recently in Dorchester, I developed a personal theory of the cycle of youth violence and expressed it in this poem.



Ignore me.

Abuse me.

Molest me.

Refuse me.

Abandon me.

Addict me.

Reject me.

Restrict me.

Control me.

Isolate me.

Attack me.

Negate me.

And then I'll shoot you.

I'll drug you.

I'll kill you.

I'll mug you.

I'll rape you.

I'll assail you.

I'll stab you.

I'll nail you.

And then my kid

Whom I had to leave

Will renew the cycle.

Oh, how it will weave!

When his neglect,

His exploitation

Becomes your assassin,

Your damnation!