I walked through the neighborhood today

Government housing
Monotonous pastel coated boxes of small hopes and distant dreams

The Projects

All the same
Full of lives as faded as their chipped paint exteriors
Lining dead end streets

Empty streets
Emptiness...

I followed the row of neatly clipped yards
Head bent, eyes down
What's to see?

She said "Hello"

Pigtails of braided black silk
Cheeks blushed hopscotch red
No muted shades, she

"Hello"

Her small voice filled the void
Echoing in the bloom of potted flowers
Patterned curtains
Prayer guarded thresholds

A smile

I walked through the neighborhood today
The Projects

I walked,
And moved up in the world.

 

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