The cranes have eminent domain in the sky
Testaments to upwards manifest destiny
Sears
Trumps
Hancock
Street corners littered with eager pedestrians for their domain lies in the streets
Taming rabid bolting taxi cars
Cameras oversee your every move
Drive too fast or cross faded white lines too soon
FLASH
Find yourself posing for pricey pictures
The city never sleeps
Vibrant and teaming with life
Teaming with systematic segregation
Red lines run from 95th to Howard creating imaginary borders
Separating
Black
and
White
Rich
and
Poor
The haves
and
The have nots
Gun shots, sirens, and tears are the city’s number one exports
Empathy, humanity, and civility
Archaic artifacts
Extinct long ago
A city full of questions but lacking answers
Full of wealth but lacking equity
Full of beauty but lacking perspective
Tell me
Whose voices do you hear
Why does progress occur only within certain city limits
As if Black and Brown skin establishes a limit on the aid that you receive
Ostracized and left to fend for themselves
Fighting for their lives each day that they rise
Scrapping in red lined boxing rings
Hands up at all times
Because the city deals
Blows
after
Blows
after
Blows
Driven against gentrified ropes
Trying to pop back up
But
Failing Public School Jabs
Food
Dessert
Uppercuts
and
Gun
Violence
Hay-makers
Deal earth-rattling blows
Bloodied and disoriented with counts ringing in ears
1
New closed school
3
More unsolved murders
5
Children forced to grow up without a father
7
Years a slave to this system of mass incarceration
9
You better get up before the city knocks you out for good