Project Baby

A poem about real life In the ghetto.

Daddy's gone, mamma cant pay the rent

the welfare says, they won't spare another

cent. Five hungry mouths to feed, on just

Peas and beans, so I hit the streets, at 

 the tender age of fourteen  determined 

 to survive by any and all means. 

 Cause I'm a project baby, through and 

 through, we are taught to survive, that's 

 what we do.

 Mamma's new boy friend likes to drink,turns

  from Jekyll to Hyde,before you can blink.

 Verbally abusive, when rotgut fries his brain, 

 One day he'll either wind up dead, or living in 

a Institution for the mentally insane.Trying to 

make friends didn't work out for me, caught a, 

near fatal bullet, right above the knee. As I lay

dying I ask myself, how could "God" let this be.

Why was I born a project baby, Is there no other 

life out there for me?

I remember waking up to roaches running across

my face, and I would ask Mamma, when are we

gonna get out of this place? She, did the best she

could, raising five boys all alone, Mamma sacrificed

a lot, when she could have put us in a foster home.

I miss her dearly, up until this very day, want to tell 

her just how much she meant to me,things I didn't say. 

Life in the ghetto will always leave scars, but Its up to

us how they heal.Either we grow wiser, or spend the

remainder of our lives behind bars. 

That's the life of a project baby, through 

and through, we are taught how to survive, 

that's what we do.

Reviews

[Arundass TP]

Excellent writing. Loved it.