Sunday Stanza: Poem Seven- Empire State Of London (An Interlude To Society) By Hannah Williams

A city where dreams can be snatched.
Even when your ambition is matched.
Your dreams mean nothing in the city.
And from the people don’t expect pity.

Knife crime and teen violence are on the rise.
When will we learn to stop acting surprise.
For the kids imitate role models from the street.
Because they rap about violence to a good beat.

After all, we brought grime to the main stage.
Where big men rap about small ambitions at their age.
Oh, I forgot London has West End and Soho too.
Just in case you’re really bored of this piece and need something exciting to do.

We can always sit and drink away our pains at the bar.
Pretending we are who we say we really are.
So put on your Snapchat filter because you’re worth the picture.
Just don’t make reality and imagination a mixture.

For we are so use to juxtaposition.
That we have a condition.
It’s symptoms involved mixing non-fiction and fiction.
So its outcome is a society filled with contradiction

How can we stop society’s contradiction?
By acknowledging everyone has an affliction.
Let’s make the decision.
To not live in division.

How on earth do we go about that?
When my Twitter timeline worries about who’s fat.
On social media we can’t even agree.
For every clap back someone’s got about three.

Even face to face interactions are becoming fake.
Can genuine people get a break?
They get stabbed in the back hard.
With your knife you’ve surely scarred.

Losing a genuine person to the other side
Is a process where an optimistic soul dies.
For you have ruined their perception.
Now they see everyone is full of deception.

So we walk around with our hearts so cold.
For no one can handle another scold.
The hurt we don’t dare unfold.
We look at each other’s scars as stories untold.

No wonder when I ask for directions you ignore.
For with yourself you are at war.
I am not about to add ammunition to your anger.
Even though London is my city,; to the society I’ll be a stranger.

Here is to the Empire State of London
A city that’s hard to abandon.
For I grew up in the city and the city grew up with me.
Whether tangible or intangible nothing is free.