Ain’t No Sunshine in the Ghetto

By DE

Ain’t no sunshine in da ghetto,

but to da government none of this matter though,

In da winter I wore too small boots, mix match socks, riped jeans and an urban sweater

But to da government none of this matter though,

I ain’t never been fed with a silver spoon

so I hooked up with my man and started pumpin’ weed and coke through birthday balloons

hopin’ things would get better soon,

I take you to Apt # D-11 Mice and Roach infested place,

A lazy slum lord was da case,

you only seen him and he only seen you when rent was due.

Ain’t no sunshine in the Ghetto

Remember when moms used to cry until she turn blue and her eyes blood shot red,

Holdin’ her hand on her head,

livin’ from month to month checks and being in a rundown complex,

I could see her stress building trynna’ figure out what next,

 Momma stressed ova’ payin’ bills, puttin’ food on da table and keepin’ da tv hooked up with cable.

 It was da middle of da month, so there was only one option, so she took off her jewelry and to da pawn shop,

Momma I want you to know I recognize you as a mother of all time high,

You gave it your best, even through stress,

Even though you hated being broke and no jewelry around your neck or wrist,

you just could see your kids live like this.

I could tell when da struggle didn’t stop it only doubled,

feelin’ it in my heart as da shit start to bubble,

makin me mad thinkin’ bout da shit I never had

Aint no sunshine in da ghetto

Listenin’ as shit in da wall start to crack just before a pipe bust and da water start to poor,

we start rushin’ knockin door to door before da water sharted leakin’ through the floor,

but dat ain’t all as shit start to fall apart from da sink, to da floor, to da cabinet,

until da gas line popped, my little brother started buckin’,

 And on top of that we couldn’t even get da slum lord to put hinges on da doors,

so when da doors got to fallin’ everybody got to duckin’.

We survived da stormiest weather,

 but like I said to da government this don’t matter though,

Ain’t no sunshine in da Ghetto.

Dedicated to da Struggle

3 Comments

  1. Roxanne on September 22, 2012 at 1:10 PM

    wow! this was really powerful! You painted such a vivid picture of the situation. I would love to see more like this

  2. Maxine Cassell on August 31, 2021 at 10:02 PM

    DE,

    Thank you for sharing your struggle in this poem, the vulnerability was incredible. You told an amazing story in your poem and it gives the audience a real description of who you are and what you went through. The repetition of “Ain’t no sunshine in the Ghetto” is very powerful, and reminds the audience what the experience is like. Thank you again for sharing, please keep writing.

  3. EH on December 10, 2022 at 10:26 PM

    DE,

    I really enjoyed the style of your voice in this poem as it sounds so raw and genuine. Your blunt discussion of such difficult experiences forces a light to be shed on the reality of how so many people in the U.S. have been disregarded by the government.

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