aunt bea
sat on the front porch
staring out into the night
watching as youths
made their way
into the city
there were tears
welling up
in her eyes
i asked
if she was alright
she said
for so many years
i worked just
to survive
raise my children
with honor
and
pride
i cleaned houses
washed
and
ironed laundry
i could never afford
for myself
and
prayed
that someday
these streets
would be safe
for
anyone to walk down
no gangs
no police
no
neighborhood watch robbery barons
just
someplace safe
i’m still
praying
but
i
survived
– Charles Martin
© 2013, poem and illustration, Charles Martin, All rights reserved
CHARLES MARTIN (Reading Between the Minds) — earned his Ph.D. in Speech and Language Pathology with an emphasis in statistics. Throughout Charlie’s career, he maintained a devotion to the arts (literature/poetry, the theater, music and photography). Since his retirement in 2010, he has turned his full attention to poetry and photography. He publishes a poem and a photographic art piece each day at Read Between the Minds, Poetry, Photograph and Random Thoughts of Life. He is noted as a poet of social conscience. Charlie has been blogging since January 31, 2010. He has self-published a book of poetry entitled The Hawk Chronicles and will soon publish another book called A Bea in Your Bonnet: First Sting, featuring the renown Aunt Bea. In The Hawk Chronicles, Charlie provides a personification of his resident hawk with poems and photos taken over a two-year period.
The BeZine 
Still waiting. Still praying.
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some days it seems as if we’re getting there … other days, not so much. sometimes it seems we’re moving back towards a dark and ugly time.
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Photo makes me think of South Central L.A.–so sad to see older people facing the degeneration of all they worked for.
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