I saw bullets rip through the faces of adolescents.
I saw mothers abandon their kids. I saw fathers go out for milk to never return. I saw kids turn into killers. Cops steal and grandparents raise infants around here.
I saw kids slap spit out of adults.
I saw the devil. I saw dude shake dude’s hand before whipping out his gun and making dude put his hands up.
We go through midlife crises at fifteen around here.
I saw friends kill friends. I saw friends kill friends and then attend their wake. I saw teachers tell kids that they’d die like their parents or siblings. What does hope look like?
I saw shot dudes in wheelchairs be shot again while they sat in their wheelchairs.
I saw shots that made bodies flip. I saw colostomy bags burst, guts spill, brains on the curb, brains on the wall, brains by the car, contusions, limbs knocked off, faces rearranged, eyeballs, small intestines, and flesh chunks. I saw flesh sizzle like minute steaks.
We all self-medicate around here.
I saw murder after murder. I’ve smelled murder. I saw bodies rot. I read 150 teen obituaries—all with short bios. I know hate.
I saw barefoot families, I saw drug money buy churches, I saw hoop dreams spark and fade. I saw all types of dreams spark and fade. I saw house raids, I saw families evicted, I saw AIDS spread, I saw thousands made, and lost right in the middle of the place where cops enforce, terrorize and collect—I saw it.
I saw it all.