Youth Poet on “Lumberjacks” and Family Trees
Youth poetsKhafre Sims Bey from the InsideOut Literary Arts Project tells us about the importance of family structure.
This Sunday is Father’s Day. More than 10 percent of households with children in Detroit are headed up by single dads, a number that has been on the rise since the turn of this century. That’s according to a report from Data Driven Detroit. The data also show a decline in households run by married parents, which reflects a national trend.
In our continuing series looking at aspects of life in Detroit through the eyes of youth poets, Khafre Sims Bey from the InsideOut Literary Arts Project tells us about the importance of family structure in his life.
Lumberjacks
By: Khafre Sims Bey
What a prominent profession lumber-jacking is
This dominant oppression is thunder-clapping kids
They have to make ominous confessions about how underlapping it is
And when it’s time to get a weapon they run and jack their sibs
Then lives get smoked down to ash
Lumberjacks chop family trees in half
They call him a crackhead but he’s really fiending for a dad
There’s always lives to shorten, or losin’
They’re cashing in lives for rewards
And business is booming
Kitchens is cooling
Riches is pooling
Snitches is choosing
The same blood gets to dripping like the kitchen sink
A strong family foundation is the missing link
Sims Bey spoke with WDET’s Laura Weber-Davis. Music by Shigeto.
