Kings County (Brooklyn 1959)

Zip Gun on hip.
Black-Jack in jacket.
Switch blade in slacks.
Car antenna as whip.

Cops were avoided.
Silence a virtue.
Family was all.
Pain tolerated.

Pubescent Wise-guys;
punished by Precincts,
penanced by Priests,
picked-on by Punks.

Street-smarts kept you alive.
We survived.
Some of us,
anyway.



TP/MMXV