Thugly

A horde of kids squeezed onto
A crowded subway train;
Jostling, laughing, screaming:
Decorum down the drain.

I wasn’t feeling threatened;
They didn’t push or glare.
In fact, they acted like
Nobody else was even there.

They yelled out to each other
Using every single curse;
My friend and I had difficulty
Trying to converse.

Some passengers were bothered,
The language was so jarring;
It felt like a rap video
In which they all were starring.

I wish I could have told them
Without being a haranguesta,
Their attitude demeaned them,
Like they played at being gangsta.

But no one in the car
Would ever dare to interfere,
And I knew better than to be
The first to volunteer.

There’s no way to inform them,
Saying honestly, not smugly,
That others view the way they act
As what I’m calling thugly.

But even if they got it
Without feeling out of joint,
I think they’d answer, simply,
“Lady – you just missed the point!”