Once a young miss-
my poem, she had read;
mentioned I wrote negatively
about what I had said.

Telling her only,
that my writings are ‘true’
and that I write positive poems,
not one- but, a few.

But, when everyone writes
as if they’re ‘tickled pink’
that would be odd
if you stop and think.

Maybe I shouldn’t write about the sick,
or ones that hurt, or the rich being small.
I say to any reader who takes offense,
let this one (of my poems), be the last of them all.

For, I will not bow down to Satan or man!
Nor, stop writing poems that people understand.

I write about a world full of joy,
and a ‘stabbed’ world that can bleed.
My poems- you can learn from & enjoy-
they’re ones you should read.

Perhaps one may say or read, ‘life’s a bed of roses’
or, everything seems to be ‘gift-wrapped’-
knowing sometimes good and bad
are equally overlapped.

And while the world continues
to manipulate our youth,
my poems about life
will be telling the truth

Marcas B. Sterling
Feb. 12, 1992