( i found this undone in draft - i dont know when i wrote it-i touched it , jut a bit)

Youngstown's Bleeding-Not so you'd notice.

" A dead n-ggr here, a dead sp-c there" after all- who cares?"

"Mahoning County would be better without Youngstown...'

I still don't know why so many are so care-less.

 Too many city-kids slink through thug-controlled   neighborhoods, TRYING   to  get  to and from a failing school system.

What do inner-city parents tell their kids when they hear gun-fire at night?

The older I get , the more I realize that we're here for such a short time-we've got  just a bit of time to make a difference 

While suburbanites listen to the  local eleven o'clock news, the city folk listen to the gunfire.

The city folk dont think the suburbanites care........as long as the gunfire stays in  there...

The deafening silence of those "in charge"

"Louie, you've seen the movie where they put a blockade around NYC keeping the bad guys in...maybe that's what we need here ?"

Hey- how would I get to work???

Seriously, what of the good people  who're victimized by the next door monster, the neighboor HOOD, the politician who's eyes are on a prize far, far away from here.

Some broaden the racial divide for THEIR own gain---the people lose, the dividers  gain.

Locals digging their heels in each others hearts....

What faliures we are when little ones don't even feel safe w/in the schools we provide for them !

W/in the city, folks refuse to identify  BAD "role models" and replace those w/positive "role models".

County + State + Federal "leadership" ignore the city as if it were an island far away from them...and city "leadership" ignore the problems hoping they'll bleed away into the sewers of OUR dirty boulevards.

"Pedro...

he looks out a window without glass

The walls are made of cardboard, newspapers on his feet

his father beats him 'cause he's too tired to beg

He's got 9 brothers and sisters

they're brought up on their knees

it's hard to run when a coat hanger beats you on the thighs

Pedro dreams of being older and killing the old man

but that's a slim chance..."

"And back ... Pedro sits there dreaming

he's found a book on magic in a garbage can

He looks at the pictures and stares at the cracked ceiling

"At the count of 3" he says, "I hope I can disappear"

"And fly fly away, from this dirty boulevard

I want to fly, from dirty boulevard

I want to fly, from dirty boulevard

I want to fly-fly-fly-fly, from dirty boulevard"