This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade's photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty, prostitution and urban anthropology in Hunts Point, Bronx. For more on the series, look here.
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The Found Toys Watch: Hunts Point, Bronx. Courtesy of Chris Arnade.
Sarah’s blonde children were taken
And the state might keep them, what for
Good if she doesn’t get clean
One way or jailed other.
For now, in her despair she fucks
Up and down in the broken bus
While the found toys watch
And her husband waits
Outside fiending,
Convinced:
It’s only a blow job
And blow jobs don’t count as sex
And the purple eyeshadow
She wears is for men to admire
When it’s next to their cocks only
Today her face is the sickest grey.
Please God find a dealer because
Gotti got got yesterday
And Jose don’t got nothing:
he’s always under the covers, you know,
With his kids while his ex is out.
So where, then, where for Buddha
Bless? Holy, holy hit.
The sting is made of primary colors and beige
Cadillac lookouts flash -- pause
For questioning and maybe cuffs.
The cops say, "we saw you
Go into that building, and you better tell us
Now if you went in: we know
The answer already."
No arrest, no cell block detox
Just more of this tape recorder, repetition
Life of pushing and of being
Pushed.
It's grimey,
The hassle and the hustle,
The things that matter about blood
Like heroin and kids.
Just find a goddamn bag,
Or just do something
To give back her innocents,
Princesses that live through
The wallpaper
Of her Obama phone.
Fiending: Hunts Point, Bronx. Courtesy of Chris Arnade.
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More Hunts Point Addiction Writing
Chris Arnade's Photos and his Facebook feed
