The City Named Twice
If I ever leave,
Will I….
Miss the grey skies,
And grey subway cats
The miniature, pregnant dinosaurs in my kitchen,
The 6 plus floors without elevators,
The two year rent increases
And pay cuts and hour decreases.
My B.A. is rubbish?
And the view outside my window is no different,
The Barrios and the ghettos,
Projects and experiments,
The protection of Auxiliary police
Crowded Dunkin donuts with NYPD,
Traffic police meeting their quotas,
The hour waits for the 101 bus,
The arrival of the 103 bus with three 101 buses behind it,
Two hour journeys to go across town,
30 minutes passing within a 5 mile radius,
The hills in the Heights,
The unisex salons on every block,
The hustle and the struggle,
The prices at Eli’s and Citarellas,
The .99 specials at Mc Donald’s,
The billboards of Diddy and Jay
Promoting spirits and clothes in the projects,
Fast cash and bad spending,
No education, no investments,
Flags of pride and lost souls,
False lifestyles, foolish acts,
Temporary trends,
Trying to fit in.
A woman with mighty metro
And her 3 kids all a year apart,
Fatherless babies, runaway girls depart,
The streets are unclean, crack fiends
in and out of reality.
Rush hour with noisy teens,
the homeless along with everyone else, crowded.
Pushing and shoving to get on the 6.
Walking passed the mural with Che,
now with ruined with graffiti
Up the steps into my warm apartment.
A key that works to get inside
Regardless of all the distress,
And constant stress, I realize that,
I’m blessed.