By: Tyree Jackson

I am talking about unemployment and
high school dropout rates,
graffiti on housing walls, urine filled halls,
and the police towers that surveillance us all.

I am talking about teenage boys becoming thugs,
teenage girls seeing motherhood, the streets raising parents’ kids,
those air Jordon’s hanging high in the sky,
and the domestic abuse that color women’s eyes.

I am talking about gun shots being heard
at night and about the drugs that are clouding many people’s sight.
I am talking about the broken dreams that could be seen
in the Bronx river, on street corners or in body bags.

I am talking about the word “Nigga” being muttered
from the mouth of a eight year old child and about the
unfortunate youth that are doing time behind prison bars.

I am talking about children’s names and grades
being crumpled up and marked with an “F” in front
of school steps and about the many voices shouting in protest.
I am talking about the Bronx.