Maurice
"Be something, you are the future!"
screams Maurice
as he takes a sip from his 50cent soda bottle
that contains not the orange soda it advertises
but the yellowy color of liquor.
I stare at the
dirt clining to his nails
a broken ciggerette held in his hand
eyes on the ground
lip quivering
its not that cold.
"Ima nice guy you see I don't cause no trouble"
says maurice
to the Hunter College students
who mock him with their beady eyes
and laugh at him behind their sincere smiles.
I stare at them
dressed in converse, leather jackets
cup of starbucks coffee in hand
watch glistining in sunlight
glaring the time it beholds
"People give me money cuz I play good music"
maurice says holding a baby keyboard in his hand
with brown tape wrapped all around it
to hold the broken parts together.
I stare at him
his shrinking eyes, wide angular nose
from which a booger is dancing
braided hair months old
ripped sneakers
broken keyboard
"you want me to play sunting"
asks the strange man
I nod and he presses hard on the keys
he sings a song that I can't comprehend
but his voice holds an emotion
that makes the students laugh
at his drunkenness
"That was really good"
I tell him.
"want me to play another one?"
and he presses on the keys again
singing the same song
I can't comprehend
"why do drink and play"
I ask the man
with a slanted head and eyes barely open,
"cuz the people look at me, I can't play if they lookin at me"
he gets up then
walks away staggering
I continue to hear the fading sounds of
Maurice screaming
"Be something!"
"You are the future!"
while the students
crack jokes and tell others now joining them
about the drunken Maurice.Maurice
"Be something, you are the future!"
screams Maurice
as he takes a sip from his 50cent soda bottle
that contains not the orange soda it advertises
but the yellowy color of liquor.
I stare at the
dirt clining to his nails
a broken ciggerette held in his hand
eyes on the ground
lip quivering
its not that cold.
"Ima nice guy you see I don't cause no trouble"
says maurice
to the Hunter College students
who mock him with their beady eyes
and laugh at him behind their sincere smiles.
I stare at them
dressed in converse, leather jackets
cup of starbucks coffee in hand
watch glistining in sunlight
glaring the time it beholds
"People give me money cuz I play good music"
maurice says holding a baby keyboard in his hand
with brown tape wrapped all around it
to hold the broken parts together.
I stare at him
his shrinking eyes, wide angular nose
from which a booger is dancing
braided hair months old
ripped sneakers
broken keyboard
"you want me to play sunting"
asks the strange man
I nod and he presses hard on the keys
he sings a song that I can't comprehend
but his voice holds an emotion
that makes the students laugh
at his drunkenness
"That was really good"
I tell him.
"want me to play another one?"
and he presses on the keys again
singing the same song
I can't comprehend
"why do drink and play"
I ask the man
with a slanted head and eyes barely open,
"cuz the people look at me, I can't play if they lookin at me"
he gets up then
walks away staggering
I continue to hear the fading sounds of
Maurice screaming
"Be something!"
"You are the future!"
while the students
crack jokes and tell others now joining them
about the drunken Maurice.