Ever seen your mother get wheeled out of home

on a stretcher numb on drugs 

depressed on meds official pharma coke

It's dope

 

Ever seen your mother bruised

Fighting like a lion, nude

during a domestic dispute 

Nothing like a private zoo in your room 

 

Ever smelled your mother drenched in beer the scent

shared by your father with the same stench 

forcing your hand to grip the blade that scarred us all

I guess I was the sharpest tool in the shed

 

Ever seen your mother embrace the coldness

so you'll learn from her to deal with being homeless

Shoes make good pillows who knew

A cat in heat with kittens in the street what else is new

 

Ever seen your mother shuffle bill papers it seems as if labor hates her

The bill collector grants no favors

Begging the neighbor for bread and beacon

Ain't nothing like pig in a blanket

 

Ever seen your mother suffer a torturous relationship with a childhood favorite

But both escape with cheese linked to rat traps in mazes

leading back into the matrix 

And they say life ain't a movie

 

Ever seen your mother regularly converse with heavy men

in all black with heavy toys strapped from hip to chest

Charlie Brown hearing sense except you only hear that your brother isn't coming back

Like father like son tradition is where its at

 

Ever seen your mother pregnant with your little brother

Bread butter the shelter's special with a side of radiation from the metal detectors

Will  this place be the first sight his eyes shine upon you wonder

Born in prison gotta start em early if you want to survive you better

 

Ever felt your mother smack the fear into you for not protectin'

yourself due to a lack of defensive lessons .

7 PM and 7 AM abuse cause other slum cubs can't help it is all they know

You know what they say it starts at home

 

Ever seen your mother beggin' for credit

The Ock spot was sympathetic

What's for tomorrow? Don't hold your breath guessin'

Marvin ain't got shit on us Africans starvin'

 

Ever seen your mother wield knives, fists, and timbs

Gun tucked in the baggy pants of the man

you never seen before but recognize once the hood goes up and twitch goes the limbs

And they say violence isn't inherited

 

Ever seen the look in your mother's eyes as she realized that you contemplate suicide

that you obsess over the death of yourself and those you hate, "fam" and foe,

that though your surrounded by brothers and sisters you feel alone,

that you're waiting for the opportunity to bring someone with you to the cold grave sight.

Misery loves company am I right? 

 

Ever seen your mother give up knowing you can do nothing

but add to the stress absorption 

You keep replaying her sayings relating to wishes of abortion.

It's reassuring knowing my existence isn't a hindrance 

 

Ever seen your mom weeping over dead relatives as young as 14, dead dreams, dead beliefs,

dead homes we had to leave for the 16th time, dead "get rich by the penny schemes",

weep over the dying Queen within, weep over a life she sees on the screen but can never reach,

weep over the kids who grew quicker than she blinks, weep over the fractured being we call a family, weep over her 30+ yr old teens,

weep over a life she probably regrets living

 

Have you ever seen your mother

If so, embrace her as you hold her

She is worthy

Because what I've seen is just a woman that birthed me