Ravenswood Housing Projects, 2003

Our city

I miss you

We need you

Children lose hope

Parents eyes hold no light

The time is here

Seeds sown long ago in glass filled streets

Stretch up higher than skyscrapers

Searching for a sliver of sunlight

Shaking off a slight case of urban blight

Beautiful

Viewed by others through broken mirrors

Seeing only scars and sin

In truth all they know is love life and pain

Much too young

Time for saviors has come and gone

Questions that set them in motion

Look now in the dirt beneath their feet

Between overturned garbage cans they feel for their roots

Gives them strength

Flowing from the ground below

Black and Brown gold worth more than any commodity

Take whats theirs from fists clenched tight

Futures determined by nothing but inent

Tell them

Consent not required

Dissent grabbed not asked for

Keys to the city within arms reach

Their city

Beating hearts trapped by more than just ribcages

No more

They rise

Feeding the city on a night darker than the blackout

Giving it the fire it requires

Grandparents remember Parents forgot Youth remind

Its our time

We need you

Our city