THE FARE  

 

Where Im from  

sometimes you lose your Fare  

Or sometimes you pay the price with your life 

Cuz you have no Fare 

No way out 

 

Let me take you there   

 

Where Im from  

We wake up when we wake up so 

Breakfast is pizza in the morning, pancakes at night, but grub quick 

Throw on a big white T, Nah bigger, twice your size  

Cuz you wanna be like your big brother and  

this is the first step to filling those shoes.  

Rock all white air forces and Girbaud jeans with the Velcro 

 

Creep downstairs, snatch mountains of change from momma duke’s night stand  

and coinstar that shit at the grocery store that’s your bread for the day 

 

Ok now soon as you leave the house you call your niggas  

Ok Pause:  

 

Where Im from Lines like “you my nigga for life” "I love this nigga” "day 1 niggas"  

seal a special covenant between friends thicker than blood deeper than water cuz  

really your subliminally saying to each other for the first time what another man never has said to you 

I love you, I need you, and I got you  

He’s your brother now 

don’t try to understand this 

 

ps don’t call me nigga unless applicable  

Even in reading this poem aloud. Lol… but really…  

 

Where Im from they say we don’t have father figures  

But the barber, the preacher, my teachers were way bigger figures  

They fucking taught me way more than that nnnnnah 

  

Cuz where im from we  

Know Forgiveness don’t sweat the little stuff, understand the broader picture.  

We don’t harbor hate for the man who gave us life,  

and even today is fighting to earn back the right  

to call his son, son. Himself a father 

Battle already won because love for him is tattooed in my skin  

 

Where Im from, a word on my barber cuz I miss him  

clippers come with life advice  

scissors reshape the mind  

Razors keep you lined up  

just brace yourself for the alcohol,  

which teaches you no lessons are learned or anything worth having earned  

without the burn  

 

Where Im from the playground is the warzone.  

Competitions stiff don’t step on the court with your new kicks unless you fearless 

You might have to play to keep them.  

Avoid the woodchips on the ground in sky tag or you “it” all day.  

If You thirsty, snatch yourself a kool aid from the fat ladies cooking out near the kitty pool  

Its on! We got water balloons and ma throws the first one 

The ice cream truck is the theme song for fun all summer long.  

And you’ll laugh until your stomach explodes  

Gather the pieces and know that this crew wont last forever  

and some these friends you’ll never see grow.  

 

Where im from at night 

We know Hide an seek gonna turn to hide and go get it and you cant wait! First kisses.  

 

Where Im from we jump from rooftops to rooftops hoping this wont be the height of our ambition  

 

Where im from the buzz  

Of the street lights coming on rings louder than amber alerts  

run home before mom worries that you’re gone  

 

Where Im from  

Gunshots light up the sky at night more often than stars do.   

 

Cuz I’m from Mattapan  

We walk River St until it meets Blue Hill ave, where No one has the name Ryan but the park you play in. Allahs  barbershop sits above Mattapan station. And if life treats you fair Mattapan Square is where you’ll hop on the yellow spaceship that will take you to the burbs for your education.  

 

Tough ticket to get but pray for it. And if not well, your left at this station.  

 

And In that station is an Orange old-fashioned streetcar the sides would read the neighborhoods name except the “Matta” part has been graffitied over with a rainbow of colors spelling the word Murda.  

 

A streetcar named “Murdapan”  

 

It tries to carry all the leftover kids in the neighborhood to Ashmont station. If you make it to Ashmont that train will take you to downtown Boston. But the streetcar has to travel through a graveyard first. It’s the only one in America that does that. One of a kind.  

 

In Murdapan not all of us make it.  

Especially if you have no fare, no ticket.  

No way out. 

 

I’m from Murdapan I’m one of the few that made it but I miss traveling pass that graveyard where a lot of my friends are now playing.  

 

By, Brandon Homer