Last week I went to hear Twin Poets perform at the Philadelphia Free Library. Moved to tears by their powerfully vivid words, I walked away troubled by their poems and rhymes. I realized I've heard those poems and rhymes far too many times.

Poems about... streets bleeding and babies dying
...about baby girls on they backs, legs spread with one eye open and other shut tight

...about daddy's in prisons wishing he coulda woulda shoulda took care of his son, cuz now Jr.s gettin swallowed up by the same streets that put him in the belly of that proverbial beast.

...about the revolving door of baby boys in and out of emergency rooms; swearing that only with death will they ever prove how hard they really are.

...about feigns deciding nightly whether to feed their children or their arms.

Tired of these poems and rhymes.

I know. I know.
the poems must be written and the rhymes got to be heard.
the streets have a story to tell, the people have secrets to holler
you wanna talk to God, tell it to the wind.
I know. I know.
but i can't help but feel like this record is stuck on repeat... like a DJ on a perpetual scratch
like we all stuck doin the same ole two step

How many more poems we gotta write? How many more rhymes we gotta hear?