Superwoman
By: Erykah Shepard This here, is my kingdom come. I lay on rocks and chew gravel, It keep my peers complacent. My body spit out bullets, leaping over immovable towers I am your superwoman, appauld me. That's all I am, your story. Let it sing you sleep. My words are a nighttime melody. They slither and poison your sanity. Taints you till insanity. Nobody knows how hard it is to sleep, When you got a bullet in your brain. But I shake it off, freeze my heart till I don't feel no more. Maybe then I can escape the loop of survival. Contract
By: Cecilia Sota Come this November it will be time for me to renew my contract, agreement, compromise whatever it was that I, myself, agreed to. I put a lot of naivety, hope, stupid amounts of faith into a future more uncertain than the ending of a mess of a book. Four years ago, I agreed that if in five years, life did not look up, then I could, I was allowed to, do what I had stopped myself from doing that November 9th evening. And whenever told, people always look at me with such confused raise of brows, because how could I have know? Truth is, I didn’t. It never crossed my younger self’s mind, the probability, the chances, of my looking up. I just did. I just trusted that it would, and well if it didn’t then I had five years to wait out. And now here, the renewal period is coming up, and I will not hesitate in doing it again, but this time an extension of twenty years, and maybe it is overly ambitious but that November 9th evening, I stopped for myself because there are so many things I needed to do, I had to make others happy, and eventually myself, so I think I understand the borders of my limits, and if not I don’t mind poking around in the dark for a while. Because life has looked up, and maybe my shortness is exaggerating the height of the changes, but I find my smile lines have gotten deeper. And I have found that the weight that levied against my shoulders is much lighter than my own niece now. I think I spent too much time just breathing that I forgot what it meant to live. So, twenty years should be enough to regain time lost. |
Surviving the Streets of Chiraq
By:Jasmine Whitmore Flashes of news headlines reading 82 people shot over the 4th of July weekend Bullets exploding from guns in a man’s hands who think that drive-bys are the equivalence of fun Cries of mothers losing their young children who can’t even play in the park without the pleasant sounds of gunshots which sounds keep the innocent trapped in fear Fear that continues to grow on this city And no one doing anything about it people being afraid to trust again to live again you can't go work without being shot down you can't go to the ice cream shop without being shot down I walk on the street afraid of my own shadow People can’t even sit next to me on the train without me looking at them twice My trust in chicagoans has faded from my heart I am scared Scared that i will wake up one morning and walk into my little sister’s room and she won’t be there Scared that my older brother will be on his way to work and he’ll be another young face on channel 9 news Scared for me and my life Scared to live because I’m scared that if I step outside I won’t be able to live anymore But all in all I keep going and push through fears because I have to get out bed to make it in this world I want the killings and gang violence to vanish without a trace I want peace in our city Some people think that its impossible but having faith is all people can have Faith and hope is all people carry in their hearts as they walk through the streets of Chiraq. Overcome By: Bethany Stubbs You wanna know how to survive in Chicago You wanna believe in the skyline of this city you wanna know there are no snakes in the grass You wanna see a pure reflection in the lakes you stand above Trust that the fireworks you hear aren't gun shots You wanna know that if you send your baby out , he won't return in a casket But you can't . You can't trust anyone ... you can barely trust yourself not falling into temptation like its quicksand .. You gotta sleep with your eyes wide open . You gotta pray that you don't get kicked out of public places Places you should be welcomed with open arms But they degrade you, segregate you , then claim you are integrated like cheap knock off coffee you are weak obeying the cream Hold your tongue you gotta learn to control the fire inside you I know the rage you feel. I know the feeling of broken slang curse words that clog your esophagus. You've been shot down so much you wanna give up but you gotta have a backbone . You gotta stand strong in those timberland boots . You gotta be persistent You gotta keep coming back You gotta be that fly on the wall quiet and patient knowing soon your time will come. That's how you survive in Chicago |