he got shot in the back on
his way out the door with the
loaf of bread he had stolen
but outside he turned around
falling to the ground the blood
oozed out his mouth and wetted
his coat from the wound in the
back on top of the ice the melted
snow out he had run of unemployment
two weeks ago had applied for a
over a hundred jobs the last two
months but lost because the college
kids and the elderly were
there too for the work and then even
on the application where he marked
felony for selling a couple of cocaine
rocks a few years ago they would never
release the paper pass the garbage can file
on his back he laid one kid picked
up half a brick shot in the back he was
unable to repent and he had been hungry
he was no catholic so no relief from
god how strange it was the clouds
around him street leveled as the stone
hit him in his head his body withered
another stone from another kid and
he still wasn't dead until the last
breath he made went up from the
kick in the head he got shot in
the back on that cold day that time
he had been hungry a loaf of bread
fell from within his coat where
it had for a moment been safe secure
and warm