Live with the Risks

Sparrows chirp; traffic gently
roars; a cul-de-sac sleeps,

breathes, slowly prepares
for the day. Geese block

the street, forcing a black
pickup truck to stop for

superior creatures with
jazz-like steps, natural

connections to the land,
man-made water sources.

They grind, hustle. Loud
machines do not bother.

Towering trees stand, like
neighborhood pillars. I-64

chants a morning rush on
the other side of fledgling

wilderness, exhaling capital-
ism’s hungry fumes, forming

metallic clouds; Thoreau’s riffs
make sense; need a simple

rescue; surviving this concrete
jungle is serious. Early morning

deer scamper from a patch
of grass to a hot street, trying

to avoid green eyed citizens;
stacking nickels seem to be

a form of freedom. Make way
for aspiring fat cats! Let the

people search their souls;
let the war mongers collect

their coins, let me shake
dice and live with the risks.


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Published by Synnika Chizoba Lofton

"Synnika Alek-Chizoba Lofton is an award winning poet, the president and CEO of Guerrilla Ignition LLC, host of a Nationally Syndicated radio show, and an educator, teaching literature at Chesapeake Bay Academy and English courses at Norfolk State University. Lofton has recorded more than one hundred and fifty CDs, albums, CD-singles, and mixtapes of poetry, including his highly praised debut, The New Breed. He is the author of twelve books and the founder of Riot Speech, a musical genre combining performance poetry with traditional musical forms, such as Rock, Jazz, and Hip Hop. His poems have been published in Experience Reality Magazine, Quay: A Journal of the Arts, UpStreet: A Literary Magazine, and, in 2014, Lofton has been featured in Blind Sided Magazine. He is a regular on Virginian television programs such as The Hampton Roads Show and Chesapeake’s Thinking Out Loud on WCTV. He teaches World Literature, British Literature, and Composition, while touring the country, performing at literary festivals, musical festivals, poetry readings, open mics, concerts, high schools, and colleges."

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