Bushwick, Brooklyn

Listen to the beats.
The rhythm of my Bushwick streets.

Flashback to the 90’s.

Nas, Jay-z, Notorious B.I.G.
“I love it when they call me big poppa!”
Black metal holding palms
Crack slinging
Jordan’s kicks
Jump rope
Punch ball
Skelly
Guliani
Dice
A liquor store
A bodega
And the weed man all on the same block
Dutch guts and baggies on the hallway steps
El tigueraso
The mugger
The hustler
Boricua
Mexicano
Dominicano
El sur Americano
Baby mama with 3 baby daddys
The white man was a crackhead
If he lived on the block
The M train was brown
Key Food, Associated,
C-town Supermarket
Beef patty on coco bread
Now & Laters
Everything stops.

Fink, Betty Davis, Massive Attack
“Where can I get a soy latte around here?”
Loud crowds of Afro-Latin-hipsters
Brunching
Lumberjack shirts
Duck Duck
Tandem
Goodbye Blue Monday
Black skateboarders
Bloomberg
Condos
High rises
Yellow cabs
Foreclosure signs
Community gardens
The M train is orange
Organic
Vegan
Tofu
Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s,
Hana Naturals denies E.B.T.
Happy, confused, natives stare
at the new block stars.
“Where you from?”
“Naaw son, we all from around here…
We just went to private school.”
The broke artist type
Something kinda’ light
With the one shift bike

Times change, but I guess
Anyone can play the free piano in the park.