On the north end line raised in the smoke migrated to the dirty south side flew to the west laid my head ta rest on the east too
Where the corner store blinked an the red beans broke
Front porch talks an screen door slams
Every block gotta name,every name gotta a jam
seen good folks bent by the weight they carry
Seen that shine turn mean in the dead-end alley
kept my feet on the cracked sidewalk before i could walk
Before I learned ta talk
Four sides to the city
Four sides of the pain
Four sides keep spinning
Under rust an rain
in 419 ashes we stand
with scarred-up hands
Broken glass city,I know this ground
Broken glass city,we don’t back down
North End prayers in a kitchen light
Eastside dogs bark loud through the night
South End tires sing on the bridge lane
Westside boys wear the whole night plain
Ain’t no saint in the mirror I keep
Just a hard-earned walk and a debt too deep
the 4 1 9 will kiss you sinisterly an try ta hold you down
Still I choose my way when the doubt creeps in
Four sides to the city
Four sides of the fight
Four sides keep watchin’
Through long nights
Down in the 419
Glass in the curb line
Four sides of the city
All of 'em marked by time
West side, east side
North side,south side
Mama's keep porch lights on when the clouds ride
Sirens cut the supper
Kids count cars by frame
Fences full of chain links
Every block knows your name
Paper bags full of worries
Shoes worn through the thread
Folks talk cold truth
Cause the lie done bled
Don't ask me why we pray
We seen what shadows take away
Hear that screen door rattle
Every heart awake
Broken glass city
She's gritty a war zone never knowin if you'll make it home or get carried home it ain't pretty
Four sides of the same hurt
Still we don't fold
Old bricks by the river
New scars on the block
Boys grow up too quick carryin glocks
Girls learn how to lock. Granny's rasin grandbabies Granddads on the corner,og's tellin stories sipping from paper sacks
Mothers with the stare
Everybody got a story
In a hole somewhere
Missing posters on the poles,kids vanish under broken street lights, rusted toys on front lawns rustin in mother's tears
Names in the grocery line
Hearts in every window
Trying not to decline
I sing for the searchlights
I sing for the found
For the ones still waiting
For the lost to come 'round
Hear that screen door rattle
Every heart awake
Four sides of the same hurt
Still we won't fold
If the streets got teeth
Then the people got hands
Pulling one another
Back into the land
From the west to the east
From the south to the north
We naming every child
We ain't giving up the course, 419 hold on
To my people hold tight
Keep your circle small
When the hard wind comes don’t let it take it all
From the flats to the tracks
survivie the bend
If the town got a wound
We can still mend
In 419 ashes,we stand
with scarred-up hands
Broken glass city,we know this ground
Broken glass city,unprofound but we ain't backin down ain't leaving the lost and stolen ones unfound
Poet419