Tribute to the Bronx
Written by Karl Omar Lawrence / Photo by Pedro Pincay
look past the garbage
over the trains and
under the expressway
where they overlook
look through the pollution
in between the crowded avenues and busy streets
there you’ll see
it’s the city
of the bronx new york
the place where I came of age
oh you not familiar?
haven't been past 125th
well if that's the case
come take a trip with me
lemme show you what it's all about
so you could see just how we live
so you could see the blacks and puerto ricans
dominicanos italianos and chicanos
immigrants from many different places in this great melting pot
the strips malls and car washes
liquor stores and pawn shops
children with limited opportunities
not enough options
frustrated in poverty
people pushing bottles and cans in shopping carts to the supermarket
for nickels dimes and quarters
trying to make dollars
junkies and alcoholics strung out
lying face down on the hot concrete
homeless and broken hearted off that
empty
broken
vial needles
syringes
in veins
numb the pain of a fiend who was once fat but now skinny
eyes seen too muchwhat a pitiful sight to see her digging in the trash
arguments and fights outside every night
families beefing with slumlords
for some heat in the winter when it's freezing
hardworking single mamas on ebt running hard not to miss the bus
absentee papas missing in action
where they at?
aunties uncles and cousins under one roof all on top of each other sons
sitting behind prison walls
daughters pregnant before their time
tenement fires so many innocent lives lost
behind the building
knock knock it's a raid
killer coppers chasing robbers killers drug dealers
it seems to be the
only time the news and helicopters come
seldom seen politicians
only come around when it's election time tryna play us like we dumb
racist institutions won't fix our roads or fund our schools
they say we useless
too ghetto
won’t ever amount to much of nothing
so what’s the sense in educating people made to slave in the kitchen
take orders
sweep floors and drive cabs for the rich people on madison avenue?
huh animal habitat picture that
it's like a jungle sometimes
a constant struggle just to get by
summertimes surviving off cold cuts from the corner bodega
wondering if i was gon make it or go under because
i’m up to my neck in it
so don’t push me
close to the edge
trying to clear my headspace and make sense of it all
as I walk down the street and take a look around me
not a bookstore in sight
nowhere to buy groceries of fresh produce but we got the most green space in the whole new york
youth hopeless with no signs that say out
they say we too ghetto
won't ever amount to much of nothing
but what the hell those gringos know about our borough
home of the thoroughbred and the talented
where all this hip-hop got started
before it went pop and lost its spark
we tagged our names in graffiti
so they could see us
because we was invisible
back when power from the streetlights made the place dark
spinning on cardboard at the park jams
stop the violence but ya’ll must’ve forgot about that
when they wrote
us off
left us out and gave us no choice
we made something from nothing
let me tell you a little something about where i’m from
because you don't know nothing!
pelham parkway is where i came of age
so make that a historic landmark
not too far away from arthur avenue and the botanical gardens one of the largest in the world
where roses grow from concrete
bet you aint know that
genius is hidden in the cracks
of despair
if you open your eyes to see
past the garbage
look at the architecture that lines the grand concourse
i’m here to let you know its more to it than Yankee Stadium
in the BX US of A
the place to be if you need a fresh trim from the barbershop call me
where you got to stop at if you want to get your ethnic food authentic
to top it all off like chopped cheese in the Bronx
home to some of the most genuine people you’ll ever meet
guaranteed
we got bright minds
scientists
artists
and if you aint know now you know
the greatest poet of our time is a local!
yeah
I left to get it crackin in DC but you know i had to come back
to be an ambassador
put us back on the map map and give back
to the blocks that gave me my game
made me raise cain and abel to
carve my name in legend and represent
open up shop and buy properties
cuz
honestly we like the last ones left
one of the few places in the empire state
they have yet to gentrify
we can't just lie down and let em take it from us push us out
nah
it’s up to us
to make em put some respect on our name
no obstacle is impossible to overcome
if we come together
stop the bickering and the fighting
stand up to lay claim to the greatness of our city
make our home a better place
if we use our imagination
i have a dream
we can change
Karl Omar Lawrence , 2019 ©
Karl Omar Lawrence is a poet and social entrepreneur from the Bronx, New York. He began writing at the age of 11 years old and has been performing his work ever since he was a teenager. He is a passionate believer in the power that words have to transform people and inspire change in our society. Visit his website at richradical.com for more information on new project releases, music, videos and live performances.