The ghetto
. . .I used to live there

 
I am here looking and waiting for things to come
To appear to come my way
Something gotta happen today
Dreams deferred I have lived
Say. . .tell me. . .what you got ta give!?
The time?. . .A dime a be just fine
Don't make me step over that line
Oh baby! You'r my angel or as close as I get ta home
The type of love I could have never known
From amongst piss stained stairwells I've walked
Street slanged soliloguies I've talked
Bottles amber boldly tilted. . .I drank
Defocused, I saw shelless souls
It's a damn good thing those beers were cold
A good thing 'cause surely my block was hot
Best choice to me was gettin off whatever I got
Word. . .from the muscle, what I had was a hustle
Pinned down on this corner. . .I lived there
This here same crossroad where I stood crucified
Fed lies, knowing the truth and hating it, I hung
Of dead and dying and walking dead brothers
Who is my brother? Who got some money?
Did I have love for you then Honey?
Like I still love this block where my soul ran cold
Ambered in bottles from which it flowed forth
It poured scarred and charred from previous scores
Battles which I've lost yet thought I had won
By the way anybody here seen my son?
Losing wars had just begun
Omens of coiling curls of smoke rings rise
Slits for eyes I looked round
Tryin to hear the sound. . .a cry
Of dad where is he. . .that punk
I don't see him nowhere. . .it's up to Mom I guess
He be smokin and drinkin all all that mess
I'll just go homn and play me some games
Almost like his, yet not yet the same
Of cops and robbers, hide and go peep
Around corners and alleys I must seek
Past gods, rats and bums
Hookers, pimps and injected crumbs
Between all these scenes I live and play
TV told me one day that we all got the same chance
'Course they had never seen Big Minnie dance
Ain't never seen ol' Short Man fight
Ain't never seen such sights
Wantin to be just like him, having a woman like her
'Roun her neck puttin diamons an furs
An get me a big ol' Q45. . .sling on the block an keep it live
Fine that punk Dad of mine pagin for rocks behind lines
I can't do nuttin fo' u maan is what I said
Jus sayin the same thang u said ta me
Forget it Pop, go get a forty so we ka drank
Ambered into this here same bottle is where you sank
Yo, you the best, sport. . .you know how Pop feel
Yo Pop, man, watch dem sneakers man, they cost a buck forty
I won't hit you but don't make me call my man Shorty
Stop hangin wit that Minnie, she got the thang
Hurry up wit that forty, man. . .I ain't got time ta hang
I gotta do my thang...thangs I gotta do
By the way Pop. . .you seen my son?
John J.