Inner City Living

The bad thing about summer, Is all the drive-by shootings.

The good thing about winter, Is everyone is too cold to load a gun?

Their hands are in mittens.

Neighborhood violence is in hibernation.

Firework or gunshot?

I ask this question often on the Westside.

They sound similar.

Wait three minutes and if you hear sirens, then it was a gunshot.

The fire truck shows up before police when you call 911.

Inner City living at it's finest.

Each day is a struggle to survive.

The world is a jungle out there.

My neighborhood is proof.

Who needs to turn on the TV.

When you can look out the window.

My neighbor's house was shot at in a drive-by shooting.

Six shots were fired.

Keep your doors locked and windows closed.

Safety is important.

Keep living and keep breathing the smoky air of the city into your already damaged lungs.

Take this life one day at a time.

Only the fittest survive in this jungle we call life.

The weak ones die out or are killed leaving only a chalk line of their body behind that will be washed away next time it rains.

Why don't I just move? many have asked me.

I am too poor to move, and search for a silver lining in everything.

I made my own bed and now I must learn to sleep in it.

The birds still sing, and the sun still rises.

Life on the Westside is an adventure untamed.

Yet spending time in the area as a child I never saw the bad side of daily living.

My eyes only picked up the reflection of the morning glories growing up strings on my Grandmother's porch.

I didn't focus on the crabapple tree in her yard that had rotten fruit filled with worms.

I will survive but question why I am here.

Though I already know the answers.

This is where life leads me due to past choices.

The path of life has many bumps in the road.

How we adapt to these bumps will help us grow as a person.

I must make the best of it.

I must look for the light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how dark the tunnel may seem.

I can survive in this world as long as I look for the positive things.

I have stray cat friends.

The world's fattest squirrel greets me each morning and begs me for food.

Baby opossums hang out near my trash bin and play, and their mother watches me from the shadows.

Birds sing me good morning and they don't know the value of money.

The occasional stray bullet may come my way, but I am quick on my toes and will dodge it.

I will keep to myself but also make friends with those around me.

We all live in this concrete jungle together, and we might as well join forces and protect each other.

Life is still life, only my surroundings have changed.

I am looking for the positives, in a negative world.

Cathedral bells sound and I listen to their beautiful music from my bedroom.

The three AM train goes through like clockwork.

I am awake with only my thoughts and a cup of Sleepytime Tea.

This world is what you make of it.

Inner-city living has its struggles, but I must embrace the good things around me.

I will survive this path in life, and never forget where I came from.

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