My Community

I love my community
Their spirit dominates the estate like new gossip
Every inch of concrete between these blocks
Open up pop up books in my mind that unfold
In alleyways as I'm walking past
I caught a glance of Morleys

Thinking back it weren't the greatest chicken
When we ate together it tasted better
So who were we to break tradition

Sometimes poverty was the teacher
We were taught to find humour when humility stood tall
We were taught to laugh harder laugh together
It made the holes in our jeans look cool
I remember playing football
Our goal was in front of a garden
Big foot kicked the ball over and,
Yesterday we smashed her window
So today we continued the game with a coca cola can

Our world cup was interrupted by police
Chasing an older man
I wasn't sure if he was guilty in a sense
My innocence convinced my inner sense
If he wasn't he wouldn't be running
They must have been looking for something
His chest shot forward as they knee'd him in his back
Then let the ground swallow him whole
He could barely stand up with ease to interact
As friends and neighbours put summer on hold to honour their role

I could feel the tension as he was hounded by police
Surrounded by the whole estate ready to riot in thousands down the street
His reassuring voice was an endorphin to their beating hearts
Ay you lot
It wasn't me

I saw honesty on all faces that gathered
We know it wasn't you
The final verdict from the only jury that mattered