Jailbreak

Every Sunday afternoon
young men from
the slum next to my
building play
cricket on the road.

I watch them
from my window
sometimes.

A pair of rickety bats.
a crate for stumps,
a dirty tennis ball.
That’s all they have.

But for a couple
of hours they are not
jobless and desperate,
addicts and alcoholics,
penniless and broken.

For a couple of
hours they escape from
the shit hole that
fate and time have
trapped them all in.

Their laughter and
screams disturbs the
siesta of the rich,
making them swear and
grumble.

But the young men don’t give a fuck.

For two hours
they are the lords of
that stretch of asphalt.
Fierce gladiators
joined in battle.
Sweaty and skilled.

And gracious too.
Stopping their jousting
for passers by and passing cars.

The game ends when
it begins to get dark.
And the gladiators melt
away into the darkness.

On Monday morning
the road is back
to being just an ordinary road.
And the warriors wake up
knowing they will never win.

Till the next Sunday.

Quick

If you can’t decide in a day
you can’t decide.
Period.

Can’t. Won’t. Shan’t.
Same shit.

You are missing
a spine.
Accept your
cowardice.
And shut the fuck up
about that ‘some day’ shit.

You don’t really need a week,
a month, a year to decide
to walk out of your rotting
relationship, your pointless job,
your drug habit, your finished  career.

How hard can it be?

Twenty four hours
is enough time for you
to decide to change
your sex, your religion,
your country, your life.

That’s how long it takes
for the earth to turn around.

And you need more time?
Fuck you.

Don’t hold back

You must always
bite off more than
you can chew.

It’s good for you.

It makes for stronger jaws,
sharper teeth and
a larger appetite for
risk.

The more you risk,
the more you gain.

You must be willing
get out of your depth
to  learn swimming.

To lift more than
you can is the only
way to get stronger.

You  know what
your limits are when
you push beyond
them.

There is nothing you
can’t do.

You just don’t
know that
yet.