Chicago
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the woman on Jackson
and Clark
that sings hymns
to the pigeons
that coo with every psalm.
my neighbor
three doors down
who comes home looking tired
and defeated
The sunrise and the lake tides merged together as I sat on the cold stone concrete
The colors of the sky dripped into color and the tides moved as precise as a heartbeat
Agoraphobia.
Noun.
Extreme irrational fear of entering open or crowded places, of leaving one’s own home, or of being in places from which escape is difficult.
Chicago, sometimes Chi-raq by the
Towering mirrors, shining bright
Imposing marble, a milky white
Rich velvets, in richer reds
Abundant gold, etch overhead.
Mon Dieu! Fountainebleau
et Palais Versailles.
Back when I used to be ghetto
South Side adopted the unwanted
café. Unsought browns from segregated tribes
brewing every tres leches cake & green lake
My dad got remarried when I was ten.
To a woman whose hugs smelled like three shots of tequila before church,
we lived in a cracked window, bug baited, squeaky apartment
Oh Chicago, how you eat its young with passion in the night.
Oh Chicago, how you reveal a love soliloquy from Frank himself.
Can you believe that a Rose grew through the
Cold streets of Chicago? A Rose that flew into stardom and was
Haroleded as "The Heir to Jordan's Thrown". A Rose
that rejuvinated an entire City and represented Hope. Can you
I hear a voice ring loud and clear
And I look around quite in fear
That perchance it might be mine.
What is this strange young thing I have found?
The city lives there
on the sidewalks of
West Rogers Park Chicago.
I can hear its rhythm
poetry finds me words unhinged in melatonin miracles that reside in a
cracked projector lens and the soft curls of a projected boy who
spits rhymes in shared atmospheres of breath.
There are many detriments about my city
I won't say the name because I'd rather show you
There are killings back to back
Cops kill civilians, civilians kill civilians, civilians kill cops
I can see the highway.
I lay way back with my feet on the dashboard.
My boredom overtakes me.
It takes me a second to gather my thoughts.
My name is Elandra Rene
From the distant planet of Chicago
Right here on Southside
Don’t call my home, “Chiraq”…
“Chi-Town”, “Chi-City”, or “The Windy City” will do just fine.
A friend told me once of l’appel du vide:
a phenomenon in which
a perfectly sane man
can stand on the edge
of a cliff--
I am from the spoon I love to eat from, from tofu and broccoli and Country Harvest $3.50 bread.
I am from the cold, mountainous and busy city.
I am from the grass, the dandelion and the leaves.
I am Chicago.
Chicago is
only two glocks for one block
get shot at bus stops
hide out from white cops
if he flip-flops he's an OPP
POSITIONS!
Now we on a mission
on the corner of Madison and Wells, a ghost with a gray cotton tee and tattered jeans saw my red lace dress and started deer hunting. he wasn’t timid, only lanky, and gripped the ground
i cant dream and im not sure why
everything i've ever seen hurts me,
i cant help it but when things get tough i feel like screaming
these things just aint easy
everybody wants to know if im insane
this life of mine is strange,
i change, and people still dont recognize
i fight but i never die,
struggle and never cry
it gets hard sometimes,
god dealt me a wierd hand
and its not easy to understand
20,000 years ago, when the temperature became just right, a great glacier shifted.
It scraped and pressed into the earth,
digging and cutting in a northerly direction,
I've always told myself...
maybe one day, things will change,
now things have changed
i dont have to cry at a young age because im hungry
now im making money,
before i used to get beat up
When I was younger all I could think about was going back to Chicago but now I see it's just because of the memories I had there.
I sit here and think....wheres my life gonna take me?maybe one day ill play for the bears or maybe i wont stop stressin, and keep sending out prayers
i never thought i would make it out of the hood
Our lips taste of salt
as we sit at the back
of an overcrowded classroom.
Information passes through our ears
as heat waves.
Sweat stains have no place
in the classroom.
When the skyline comes into view,
I feel it.
When I crane my neck and squint
my eyes to see the very top of the Sears turned Willis Tower,
I feel it.
That sense
of longing and
that sense
Guns are firing.
Kids are dying.
Parents cry.
All the police do is sigh.
Another one dead and gone.
That's another bed empty and alone at home.
This shit is like a cycle.
A few streets down
away from this perfected outer shell of blissful indulgence that we have created
lies
a city of
distorted faces,
starvation,
violence.
I chose to right in the Comic Sans MS format.
It seemed only right, because this is seen as a joke.
So many lives taken, or stolen to say the least.
Still, this is not for you.
City looked so pretty
I hadda put a ring on it.
Faces I probably will never see again
The darkness swallows her.
Before bussiness started, he had to test her
The best thing was watching you grow
Chicago
a city full
Of industrial mountains
and people with
Hope.
Wind, storms, and Fires
touch the city.
But the Passion, Support, and
Hope
Never Dies.
When you pass down the streets in Chicago, Cleveland, and Atlantic City, you see it in their eyes.
They’re not yet sixteen, acting eighteen,
Driving their moms up a wall when they don’t come home for supper.
I'm different, I'm just Different
I'm everywhere yet nowhere, I'm neither here nor there
I'm everybody yet nobody at all
I'm different
I'm like a missing piece of a puzzle
They look at the color of my skin
See ink running down my limbs
And the illusion is set in their minds
Suddenly I have a new face
They spit words out
Calling me gangbanger
There were streets like bombed out cities,
Canyons and craters filled with water.
Rubble on the sidewalk where you're walking
a vacuum to hear yourself talking.
I Made It
High school graduation, 4 years just to see the day
Never been to jail, no kids, most of my peers can’t relate
As a young black male they say we won’t succeed
"I can sleep through gunfire,"
He said to me one nightDouble parked in parking lotHalf past closing time
City Streets of Chicago,
my hometown, my motto
Everyday I hear on the news someone got shot,
Bang Bang,Bang Bang,Bang Bang,
6 shot's fired, 3 dead
found in the parking lot.
A changing world we live in
Where are the times when logic was alive
Where fast killing booming sticks didnt kill the young,
causing castrophic dive,
A place where we seek ever lasting peace,
And I’m from the murder capital where they murder for capital
Heard about at least three killings this afternoon Looking at the news like "damn! I was just with him after school"
every exasperated sigh
is a painful reminder
of how unhappy you are here.
I cringe when I hear you
You are like a machine on its last run, ready to give in at any given moment
My face burns red
Fiery, flustered, forgoing.
Nostrils condense, eyes moisten.
“This is Bat Country”
her coy smile appeared to howl at me
as I was lost in the chaos.
The Acre of Broken Dreams (Ghetto Concrete Lines)
By Majae Brown
Jackson and Pulaski
Broken acre of Dreams
From which many weeds grew
“Empacó un par de camisas, un sombrero
Su vocación de aventurero, seis consejos, siete fotos
Mil recuerdos”
Fast moving,
Cars zooming.
Buildings towering,
Ever empowering.
Ships gliding,
Tour guiding.
Ever improving,
Always booming.
I find myself wandering Lost Just walking Pacing Back and forth Thinking About changes That can be made Changes That can bring about my escape My heart races At the slightest ideas Lifting off into space From this place Called Earth Where people s
On my path, I'm headed for hell
Today, I snuck in God's house 'cause he don't know me that well
But upon entrance a preacher caught me and called me by name
He said "I don't know why you're here, but I'm glad that you came,"
If I could wander these city paths with you forever
That would be true eternal bliss
Because the cars whizzing by, the skyscrapers tearing holes in the bright blue sky
You're hot then you're cold, you play with me.
Make me dream big things within your limits.
They tell me you're bad, corrupt and dirty
but I like everything about you
I'll leave you soon, I tell everyone
Chicago shall rise again.
This phrase, from ashes rose
But I see a city again with flames rising high
Not of fire but of hatred, racism and crime.
A Chicago whose politicians are varied
The Windy City
Where guns haunt innocent souls
This city is cold
The world claims to care
With more killings than the war
It is hard to sleep
