Gang Related

I had to take
the better part
of the day
to cool off
from the events
from just a few
minutes of last night.

It seems Colorado Springs
is on the verge of finally
feeling the wrath of its
terrible integration practices,
yet another lag time
to be experienced,
another moment and confrontation
between the old and new,
a combat of contrasts.

I just happened to
see myself in the middle
for a few moments, and
it unsettled me. I don't
really understand
how the city, this
of all cities, can't
get a handle on it,
in a place of such
open spaces and obvious
developments. They
can't be paying attention,
or they've taken the
wrong side of "let it be"

and in that matched
the rest of the nation's failure,
the penchant of the population
to ignore problems
because it's just easier that way.

It's a rotten thing to experience,
but that's just another aspect
of this rotten little
city on a hill
we'll just have to accept
because that's what society do.