Poem - PattyDukes

No Where But Here
By PattyDukes
(For Sandra Maria Esteves)



No where but here are we living sitting in the midst of a dream.

BROKEN

Here, they sell that watered down fragrance at the GAP
And label that shit Dream.
Come visit my stomping grounds
And I’ll show you survival.
Dogding heat packing brothers
And shorties with quick tongues
Who threw disses or spit blades
That left a crescent
Across your face.
A Buck 50
Taped up
Shaped up
Bopping through the Streets
With the crew all dipped up.

While poverty
Was just a state of mind
That TV forced
Down our throat
Like Nyquil
But only
Worse.
Said we was deprived.
Neglected.
And rejected.
we held on to our disabilities
and flipped it into
Spanglish.
From BK to el barrio,
From the lowa deck, to soundview.
To every tecato street thug, named Papo.
Here.