By Ciera-Jevae Gordon
Have you noticed any change lately?
Granny left,
Tried her luck elsewhere
then came back.
I suppose she learned
leaving doesn’t solve all of your problems.
Or maybe your problems stretch out farther
than your price range will allow you to travel
We teeter between living and waiting to die.
Because we can’t breathe,
it’s hard to see,
hard to feed myself,
let alone any kids that come from this womb
Another home plagued, and I have little control
Living in poverty is bad for your health
Most of us don’t make it past 50
And even that is a luxury where I come from
A whole community losing
wealth and equity
We fill our bellies with emptiness, no hope
Cause we poor and we broke
You can tell by my lack of smile
That I’ve been dead for awhile
But my bones owe somebody something
So we just keep on moving
Someone once told me that my worth
didn’t equate to materials or possessions
But all I could reply is
Prove it.
Because having a home is essential
And I ain’t got one
It’s a human right
But do they even think I’m human
It’s a necessity
But they have been trying to make me disappear
Give me a bus voucher
Just to end up homeless
On somebody else’s streets
But that’s life right.
I have air, but nowhere to sleep
Nowhere to eat
Nowhere to sigh
Nowhere to talk
Cause no one is listening
The price of talking has gone up
And the value of this body is always on the decline
My friends have come and gone
I’ve lost the place where I belong
And Granny won’t be here too long
Got a list full of medical bills
A cabinet full of medical pills
And they wonder why we say poverty kills.