Crack House

By Jeremiah Mickens

The House on the corner was named after broken-up ground.

It's where the richest and poorest niggas came to get down.

Some would come in with less and leave with more.

Some would come in with more and leave with less.

Some wore rags instead of riches.

Some were expensively dressed.

The ones who stayed away from this house were surely blessed.

Why you asked?

Because the house on the corner was named after broken-up ground.

It's where the richest, and poorest niggas came to get down.

The richest would sell, the poorest would buy, 

and tears would could to an onlookers eye.

How can a house stand so tall, with a foundation so weak and small?

A foundation as thin as powder, with power like rock.

The house across the street, up the street, next door, 

the house on the corner of my block.

I watched as people checked in, 

and bodies without souls checked out.

I heard when things went wrong, the screams and shouts.

The house on the corner was named after broken-up ground

It's where the richest and poorest niggas come to get down.

The richest would have fire, poorest would too.

Sometimes that fire would burn me, or you.

Majority colored folk would go to this house,

and whispers would fly throughout the hood

only of the good things, not of the blood

that leaks through the cracks like Niagara Falls.

the flow is much quicker and so is the death of another nigga.

They come here and eat the bait,

take it home to family, friends, brothers, mothers,

and they all share the same fate.

The house on the corner was named after broken-up ground

It's where the richest and poorest niggas come to get down.

It's where party crashers just crashed.

The richest are gone, the poorest are smashed.

Some are dead, some in a cell,

but guess what?

Shhh don't tell.

Promise not to make a sound?

They'll be another house on the corner.

And they'll name it after broken-up ground.