I AM,

I am from faded dreams and loss voices

I am from intoxicating smells of 40 oz’s and cheap liquor
where early morning wake and bake is a ritual

I am from that place by the Compton airport
where dreams began at the dead end
where I used to hang with my childhood friends
screaming oooooowhupk

I am from a place where I was told
me and my friends
would be dead or in jail by age 25

I am from faded dreams and loss voices

I am from a mother whose love language is
“I brought you in this world and I’ll take you out”

I am from what happens in this house stays in this house

I am who they tried to put in a box
statistics said I’ll be right where you see me

I am rewriting my story

I am incarcerated but free

I am a mother from behind these walls of three

I am a first-generation college graduate with highest honors

I am breaking cycles created long before me

I am the story teller of this story

I am a believer in
If you don’t come from a good family than a good family
should come from you
I am the beginning
cause a good family will come from me.