To Die was an Art | Teen Ink

To Die was an Art

May 2, 2017
By Anonymous

Curiosity killed the cat
Or so they say
Back in those days
Where men still wore felt brimmed hats
And ladies gloves
Before the fall of the earth
As it is to me
Gleaming beneath the sun
That clung to their backs
As rifles shot
Across the desert, the fields
From the planes.
Curiosity killed the cat
Or so they say
Back in those days
When folks talked to one another
And cared about
The kid shot across the street
And gathered in diners
With neon lights flashing
Bacon crackling
Burgers grilling
50 cent pie
And whipped cream sky high.
Curiosity killed the cat
Or so they say
Back in those days
Heels scrapped the pavement
And doors were held open
For me and my posse
New hat, old nylons
Careful, don’t snag ‘em, that’s my last pair
But most of the time, we didn’t care
About the consequences of our actions
And snuck out
To the centre of the earth.
Curiosity killed the cat
Or so they say
Back in those days
When they flipped us over their shoulders and spun us around
Jiving to the beat that never ended
Up and down our street
Doors wide open
For all to come
And see
What Tommy had done this time
To the willow tree
And the red wagon underneath.
Curiosity killed the cat
Or so they say
Back in those days
When fighting for what you believed was okay
And patriotism was right
When the brass blared nonstop as their feet jittered across the floor
And soared into the air
We took off our stockings
And threw them away
To dance with the uniforms
Lined up against the bar and canteen
Of Hollywood and Queens.
Curiosity killed the cat
Or so they say
Back in those days
The phone still rang
And the records still crackled
As we held each other through day and night
And America still knew what to say
In the face of defeat
When we hurt, we healed
We did not wait for someone to steal
Dignity and pride
Our shoulders were straight back then.
Curiosity killed the cat
Or so they say
Back in those days
When it was always unfair
When it was always fear
When it was always dirty and poor and ragged-
Straighten up and fly right, sister, we got work to do
We licked our wounds before they licked us
And there were questions
Of the highest kind
Which seemed to puzzle me
Softly in the dead of night.
Curiosity killed the cat
Or so they say
Back in those days
When I knew where everything was
And the people I knew looked me in the eye
And could tell me the number of freckles on my face
Without having to ask if I had any in the first place
When voices were pure and bodies were not (they never are)
When I could listen to the radio and hear a person, not a machine
When I could go to the movies and actually laugh
When I could go out and know that I would be coming back
When dreams were alive and life was real
When people lived



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