Barbed Wire Playground – Original Poem

Billboards of Jennifer Lawrence surrounded by the art of the streets
Garbage cascading in piles at the edge of the streets
The sounds of laughing children playing alongside cars racing without regard
Remnants of rain populating at the edge of a dirty street are the only pool they will see

Stop, Listen, Stare

There is beauty in poverty

Families find faith in hope
A better world to come
Slums infested north of the tracks
Without roofs, without electricity
Squatters find refuge and rebuild
Brick by brick
Stone by stone
Communities rise from the ruins to avoid another night on the streets

Stop, Listen, Stare

A child with limited oral skills cries “Money, Poor, Help” in Spanish while his family sleeps on a sidewalk shared with rats
He doesn’t know much, but he knows survival is all he will ever know
Holding out a hand cut and grimed; praying for a peso or two to translate to a meal
A day measured only in nutrition and water
No crying; too weak