area boys

brash talk on sidewalk

brethren to irreverence

short teeth long stories

 

~

 

aspirations high

rolling tape decks tweeters six

by nine speakers deep

 

~

 

joyride profiles boom

down sto:lo street thump lean ass

out brwrwaa car window

 

~

 

ancient customs scratch

custom stereos banghra

remix jacks be real

 

check out the story to the

glory of the real estate

 

~

 

front stairs bringing down

property value this skin

a cost we bear loud

 

to three generation base-

ment epithets we remain

 

true some of you gon'

die on these streets before you

ask what's under them

Bibliographical info

Hari Alluri, "area boys," from Carving Ashes. Copyright © 2013 by Hari Alluri. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Source: Carving Ashes (CiCAC/Thompson Rivers Press, 2013)

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