Today’s Poem: Requim for Antiq

Requim for Antiq

The Garvey Projects were never a Sunday walk
but parents still
strolled through
ball shots and beatbox
Uneasy rhythms of daily
living
Laughing, vibrant
and full of
life
Antiq Hennis was a baby
a boy
in a stroller
strolling
Livonia Avenue and Bristol Street
on the downbeat
Brownsville
Suddenly, a release
trigger popped
ball dropped
and Antiq was dead
Covered in blood
Gina Gamboa’s baby
dead
shot in the head
four bullets
meant for his dad
Hospital blues
not Hill Street Blues
this is real
Antiq’s godmother
kissed him,
“doubled over in grief”
and cursed the thief by saying,
This baby
was just a baby
But was he really?
Would he have
grown up
to become a man
to start that band
to make a plan
that would save
us all?
We’ll never know
because Antiq Hennis
is dead
God rest his soul.