where i'm from

Where I’m from, people don’t call you by your first name. They call you slim, shorty, mamã, baby, girl it’s all the same. The women set you up, only to later tear you down The men see you as a “sex symbol” instead of who you are: “Young lady virtue in her prime Don’t need no man to waste her time. Time, where I’m from, stands unnaturally still Unattractively appealed To those who sit around and waste their god given skill And still Can’t make up their own minds “Maybe my baby’s father will make it home on time” This time She won’t live that life full of crime Put her in an environment where she can unwind An environment where she can progress in Until once again Mama sees her same mistakes from back then Where I’m from, the streets are paved with lost dreams The people who live, never really lived They make up excuses why they did what they did “For my son, my daughter, my husband, my wife” But in the true reality, they just afraid of equality. Where I’m from, these twin houses stick together Like my mother and four kids who got nothin’ but each other She works indefinitely sellin’ her Mary Kay ‘Cause she knows we’ll all make it out…someday. ¬¬-Ashley Browning