Ghetto Streets

Ghetto Streets
By Stephon Latham aka Silentpoet

Broken pavement
With shades of different grays
Filled with footprints from the enslaved
The path where black people walk backwards in life
Controlled by strife, too weak to fight
In black sight, are “Dead End” signs and “Stop” signs
And black people don’t “Yield Right Of Way”
They “Proceed With Caution”
Often too blind to find the road less traveled
So black feet walk to the beat of the ghetto gravel
The ghetto gravel penetrates the soul
And I’m not talking about the sole of black feet
But the soul God bestowed
The penetration brings a hesitation in the black stroll
Progression trapped in a capsule
Stopping the movement
And black people are too confused to resume it
So black people stand still like pothole
And refuse to hold on tight to life
As the days and nights grow old
Black lives grow cold
Froze, standing still in the same pothole
I too walked the same streets
But I walked with a different beat, stomping in a fresh pair of Nike
That’s a fresh pair of Never Ignorant, Knowledge Empowers
I ignored signs like “Wrong Way, “One Way” or “Do No Enter”
Made a “U-Turn” but I “Pass With Care”
So it’s hard for me to bear, hard for me to stare
At the slow transition of my black people’s condition
This poem wasn’t designed to “Reduce The Speed”
But to let blacks know there’s no “Speed Limit Ahead” to succeed
“Use Left Shoulder” of God
And He’ll guide you to the “Rest Area”
Wear this poem like a fresh pair of Nike
That’s a fresh pair of Never Ignorant, Knowledge Empowers
Walk with me and stomp with a different beat
And get your ass off these Ghetto Streets


Copyright © 2009 Stephon Latham