Graffiti Bust

My day begins with two tabs of Klonopin
Trying to make my anxiety run thin
Today is my day at court
No way to abort
My hands tingle and I run to bathroom twice
My bowels loosen as fear runs through my intestines
Inside of me is a question
I keep on guess’en
What will be the fine
Will I have to face a judge and cop prison time
No way to rewind
Stuck in a bind
I pay my $2.25
For a train ride
Head down to Franklin Street
In the city summer heat
I committed a graffiti crime I was outa line
Busted by undercovers in an unmarked gypsy cab
Things went bad
Arrested on a loisada street corner I could not get escape
Cops surrounded me like a round up
They took my bag and stickers and asked, “What’s your tag? Dupplex?” they pronounced it
I declined to correct DubbleX
hands cuffed tightly behind my back
they took my wallet ID and sticker pack
I told them I was mentally ill
My leg started shaking they told me to chill
They asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital
I silently shook my head no
I had trouble getting into the back of the squad car
When the door was ajar
The portly Hispanic officer with a police badge around her neck told me sit down but first
I feared the worst
I did not want to go to prison
For my graffiti sin
But it was either go to the station in the blue and white car
or they offered the loony bin
I finally got in
I sat in the back begged them not to lock me up
I was nowhere near tough enuf when it comes to this stuff
The officer said you’ll get a ticket and go in front of a judge
My background will have a graffitied smudge
The round butch looking Latina officer led me inside the station
I could not believe my situation
She said maybe you’ll get off with a ticket
And we’ll 86 it
Then they found six prescriptions in my bag
The names of the medicines they could not pronounce
One officer flipped through the scripts and shook his head
I said maybe they will let me bounce
The Hispanic officer said you have to wait in the cell
Until the paper work was done then they’d bid me farewell
They took my belt and shoes
I sat there in my socks
Back and forth I rocked
Still in shock now I was locked
They gave me a pink ticket and released me
I was so happy to be prison free I could not see
Today is the court day I must face
A long line of people only one from the white race
All hoping to beat their case
Minorities like me
All copping a plea
One guy said he got a ticket for playing basketball in the park at nighttime
The sign said the park closed at dusk so the police made the bust
We passed the security checkpoint
They searched everything
Looking for a weapon I did not bring
I got upstairs a long line snaked through a large room
A guy behind me said plead not guilty
Another guy with dreads falling out of his head said
Back in the day he use to get up
Said graffiti is like a drug addiction
I need to grow up and get in remission
Finally I reached the window counter
I gave the woman I encountered my pink ticket which I had almost lost before when I switched to my new Ed Hardy bag
To my relief she said my case had been dismissed
The police failed to file their complaints, guess they didn’t care about this
I smiled and went on my way to do more graffiti the very next day