SOuth LOndon NIghthawks (2025)

SOuth LOndon NIghthawks (2025)

5 ft x 4 ft, Oil on Canvas

South London Nighthawks (2025)

written by Shaquille Keith:

Welcome to south London

Home of the brave,

Air max, trackies,

Foreducci’s and braids.

Nothing but mist in the air,

We wear

the night sky more

Than our good manors,

The smell of fried food occupies my senses,

Bus journeys and unruly youts hoping fences,

Where your attitude is often on offensive,

And repping the wrong ends

in the wrong ends

can cost your life

But that’s not quite

what’s comprehended.

15 and unwilling to learn,

No one to teach me about loans and banks.

So it’s easy to turn

to the fundamentals of

brick phones and shanks,

Some say its only for protection,

Could it be because hugs are ‘weird’

And being bad is How we seek affection? Attention?

A one way trip to isolation,

Then detention…

Saved by the bell though,

Now out of this hell hole,

I flee the institutional premises,

The beast roams the street

and

I wear the skin colour of its nemesis.

I see it,

Flashing the blue and red warning,

Thoughts of what they do to their prey

Is better than witnessing the stories

That are known to be quite haunting.

So I blend into the background,

My hood up and

Ears consuming a 145 BPM,

Looking for girls with a pubescent hunger,

I can feel the danger

But proceed with my mating call

Of asking for the BBM.

Once Mesmerised by skets like Keisha,

But these days I’ve been known

To greet them with a Smile,

followed by a

‘Bye Felicia’

The origin of

Alchemy is turning

Metals to Gold found

for me its turning

Pennies to whole pounds,

I’ve seen street alchemists

Take coke

And turn it to Gold crowns,

Another day of

Superstar dreaming in the

South east metropolis,

Night fall is filled with Survival

and

Any time could be a south east

Apocalypse…

With friends,

And

When these Adventures

Come to an end,

In the ends.

one needs to retire

And usually pass curfew,

Storming pass the living room,

Someone states loudly ‘I damn well heard you’.

It’s a worried mother Who asks for a recall

Of my day,

I respond with A reply that says ‘nothing’…

That’s how I usually dismiss these talks,

Because there’s Not much to discuss in the adventures,