Held To Remind Poem by Foster Davis

The streets of pea gravel do criss and cross here,
No lines or stop signs, just bottles of beer
Thrown in front yards, they crack the veneer
Patched by old folks, kept in by fear.

Chain link and roses grow intertwined
'Round doll-house dwellings, primly designed.
Each car is covered, held to remind
How life was lived once, now left behind.

Dirt lots and dead trees fill in between
Walls built to keep out a world obscene.
Gang signs and colors seem the routine,
Pridefully placed there, actually demean.

Gang members grow old and they will tell
The kids that they've had that they will yell
If caught destroying, running pell-mell
Streets of pea gravel, criss-crossing hell.