keep your head up
stream of consciousness from the streets of NYC:
oh child things are gunna get easier
there is no way of pleasing her miss money make ends meet walk with a switch blade smile looking for that bonafide man to pay dem bills but broken hearts cause scar tissue thick skin thick thighs sway to the rhythms of the street
fascinated by the crooked screw face dream-scape gangster hustle and flow broke yet seems to have a swagger and fat pockets. loudmouth fluff my feathers raise the hair on my back posturing to be the man Dad never taught me to be
miss chicken head holler back to cat calls as night falls and innocence dies in childs eyes watching mommy swallow pride swallow… lies strive to fly yet chained down with the street rat schemes and bounced check back rent welfare lines deep rooted in her face
hanging out the window on the third floor project house watching the children throw rocks at stop signs never ceasing to see the light of day clouds spread sunshine bird chirps, just echos of it hurts when fist fights claim another victim to the way it is…survival animal kingdom concrete jungle scraped knees bleeds until scabs picked fresh with another scrap of diginity
clothes fly free in the breeze on laundry lines pigeon roost shoes hung from power lines mark territory lines, seems like there is no way out been living here 20 years and I have never seen the beach, coney island is just a distant memory from a post card picture stashed away in my top drawer from that time we went to times square
Fell back on child support from my three kids baby mamas called the cops and they put me away…kids don’t have the money and I discovered a new way to live with free food free clothes, this “freedom” behind these bars away from the streets that killed my brothers and would’ve killed me… my cousin got shot last week cross fire gang violence tattooed in their skin deep colors, but death is color blind
Grandma tells me to keep my head up becuz things are gunna get better when I see my kids hop scotch cool aid smile nothing could bring me down, hold me back, make me pray for a better way a better life out side of this place we call “home”.
