This verse was written whilst wandering the Southern residential streets of Amsterdam in 1997. Streets of 18th & 19th Century Amsterdam-style houses, on the edge of the old city, were interspersed with empty lots which had been concreted over.
Within these lots were rubbish, empty beer cans, discarded needles, basketball hoops and some walls of kaleidoscopic colour.
I do not have any of the original images available, but here I share the words.
A gRaffiTi
With spray paint cans
Upon bleak walls
A statement made
In letters tall
It's mostly names
Of those who came
In search of
Fifteen minute fame
Some colour in
A street of grey
To hide the filth
For one more day
Should we chastise
Those who take part
Or recognise
This crime as art
