24-7 Hustlin

I’m a homeless marine who has AIDS

lost my apartment in a fire

got six kids and 2 cats to feed

sell candy to stay off the streets

I’m broke and it aint no joke

waiting for my unemployment EBT debit card

you can peep my ID

any food or spare change please

I’m hungry

anything you can give even a penny helps

they cut off my SSI

I play congas,

guitar,

saxophone

bucket drums,

steel drums

I sing

break dance,

rap,

recite poetry,

play the sitar and air guitar

Down on my luck

begging for a buck

I hustle chess games

sell watches and trash for fast cash

old radios with tape decks

pre-HD TVs

worn down shoes

old toys

remote controls

electronic zebras

tools

lamps

shirts and pants

I’m African

European

Czechoslovakian

Hawaiian

Puerto Rican

Dominican

Haitian

St. Lucian

Mexican

Indian

American

my skin color is

white

brown

pink

safire

topaz and lavender

I sell on 33rd street and Broadway

on the 1 line

on the A train to Harlem

W to queens

JMZ to Brooklyn

5 train to the Bronx

I play jazz

rock

calypso

reggae

mariachi

blues

electric and acoustic

I play on 8th street

in the subway

I sell old books

used jerk off magazines

sing do-wop hits

Records

bongs and crack pipes

I whisper in a loud raspy hoarse voice

I’m the unheard cry from NYC

stagger from ghettos

roof tops

corner spots

shelters

subway cars

train tunnels

beaches to boon docks

I’m the unheard voice crying in the New York City wilderness

shaving summer ices in tropical flavors in small white Dixie cups

dripping down hands making sticky fingers

freshly squeezed orange juice

Cuchifritos from illegally parked trucks

bottles of water on the highway

I search for cans and bottles to get change

look for left behind quarters in pay phones

pick through the rich man’s garbage

I mug for a meal

sell dime bags and rocks to people who want to cop

prostitute myself

sell quick fucks and $20 blow jobs

hold up hard-to-read cardboard signs

I’m an unwanted gypsy

Feel my pain

I’m a throw away just trying to survive the day

2 FOUR 1 Capitalism

gonna sell sell sell sell sell it
you need to smell better
look better
love better
have a bigger cock
have your period better
cramp better
dress better
eat what we say
when we say
how we say
where we say
got 2 be a clone but think you’re an original rebel
buy all the worthless junk that will break down in a month
we’ve got the ugliest clothes that you’ve got to have
believe all the lies
shave your legs better
brush your teeth with a laser
change your brown eyes to original orange
your eyebrows are out of style
shave your head
now grow it back
dye it
curl it
burn it
weave it
deceive it
achieve it
nothing more then buying
from infomercials
commercials
click that internet ad
latest fade
junk mail
spam
all creating
forming
and deforming
who I was
and who I am
scram
want out of this jam
don’t need your new version of Windows
mutilation of a nation
a world and generation
fall prey to the hype
this advertising life
only to find
they want more
ads fly across the sky
sketched in the sand
implanted in your brain
dial a lawyer
phone a friend
liposuc the fat from your gut
new pair of breasts on your flat chest
WiFi and HD
4G phones in your hand
you can talk
surf
fuck
shit
dance
spit
do a split
while you drive your high polluting
gas chugging
SUV up the freeway
70 miles an hour
Reading each billboard sign
For the next high tech design
Not realizing that you done gone lost your mind