Hood Dreams

ambitions and goals shattered
in the alley way, scattered
amongst the glass and plastic platters
discarded with the garbage...

what matters
most in this neighborhood is survival
where police are the resident rivals
pastors pack pistols with their bibles
and kids become hood dream disciples
thugs and drugs fill the high schools
and most don't give a rodent's mule
ignoring the fact they look the fool
by any means necessary is the rule...

a different world where I come from
down the street beats a different drum
blocks from the riches lies the slum
influencing the man I've become

as the young male protagonist
I constantly wished for a life better than this
world of poverty and potential lives amiss
steady striving to escape the abyss
to prevent being a product of my environment
I dedicated hours and days and weeks spent
to hitting the books and avoiding the hint
that my life was here and was never meant
to leave this hood, this block, this crew
of like-minded morons without a clue
of a life outside the hood, with a view
of a alley, a jail cell, or casket blue...

So I did whatever I needed to do
To remain one of the non-statistic few
To rise up with dreams to pursue
Cause the only way out is the way through...