Full poem from the Gary Poetry Project from 2017

1. Gary Poetry Project Community Poem
February 11 | Indiana University Northwest
But if this is the worst thing that happens to you today you are indeed blessed
The old house is gone now, my view of the city expanded
Three blocks away another building has filled the space, exposed.
Like sharks teeth one horizon folds into the next; ever evolving
God's grace permeates the city because he loves each soul who lives here
Green tendrils creep over the windowsill, stealing in like some whispered promise
We've made it through what frights in the night
Though our sorrows are known to come with tomorrow
Even without sight of the light we fear nothing
Splashy graffiti murals enliven Lake Street, a blistering riff of polychromatic jazz
A community never gave up on a town built on rusted steel. It endures
It's a good place to live
Four words for my city:
We've got to work
March 4 | Gary Middle College
The fight between good and bad rages on, unsure of what side to pick
God’s glory infinite meeting the air that flows through me binds my bones and consumes me
Silently - quiet just to sleep
The sunset looks like lemon, cherry, grape, lime
Smells like coal, licorice, rotten eggs
Feels subtlety beautiful
I'm from a place where dreams can be crushed right beneath your feet
Take the time to learn our city before we live in our city

2. What do I call home you ask?
People of the shadows who I never thought to know
News stories of abandonment, not an ounce of sorrow within
Until a job came about, scattered thoughts, I figured out
We're misplaced, misinformed
Gloomy gray from so much neglect
March 25 | Indiana University Northwest
I'm me, made in God's image and God makes no mistakes
How come I'm not perfect? Because I'm not God I'm me
Debilitated by over thought I find myself forcing creative sessions a fruitless work of strained effort
A legacy left in supposed ruins
Renewal blooms to bring back what never left
Through my trials and tests, tribulations in this mess
But I must confess I rather have less because that makes me feel rich
Where sin abounds there grace abounds even greater,” in essence the Holy Scripture declares
The Lord loves the citizens of Gary and therefore will provide an escape from the enemy snares!
Gary days made grey by immigrants industriousness filled company coffers
Spewing a dark legacy upon the land
March 25 | Valparaiso visitors at Mama Pearl’s
Big yellow school bus brings Valparaiso into Gary
The Vale of Paradise meets The City of the Century!
Driving through a city of a past that is alive
A town whose land has changed but whose history and spirit remains rich
Gary, Indiana the town that's been done wrong by time and history
The town that's down but not quite out

3. “Observe objectively” she says
As if my biased brain hasn't already decided where my eyes are going to look
My mind screams “broken windows theory” but my eyes see displaced families
Does this piece of the planet belong only to you?
The more I see Gary the more I love Gary the more we need Gary
A cool, brisk breeze pushes you into Gary but it's the people who keep you around
Gary, Indiana the epitome of urban decay and renewal
Combating its reputation with energy and hope
April 1 | Miller Pop Up
Deep, dense, swallowed up and sandy
What is history do you know history if you don't journey through history
Drink the spirit of our community as you would with the Great Lakes
Bright colors flying south, the smell of flower lead the way
Cold day approach their wings, Mother Nature call
Blue skies contrast their journey,
Year after year offspring lay their eggs in the highest mountains of the Madre Sierra
Yame tree warms them up, spring approaches sweet milk thistle nectar, time to fly Northwest
And I, once more, am called back to the shore
What if you had one question to ask, what would it be?
Gary struggling, growing, striving for a better tomorrow together
Hopeful Gary hugs Lake Michigan
With glistening singing white sand speckled with sandpipers and dune grass
Look around, see and be
From the chatter of friends
To the horn of the train
Happy sounds is the Miller refrain

4. The rising pitch of the frogs drowning out the sounds of the freight train
Exhale respiration blow through dune grass to the shore
I comb the desert for pearls, but all I found are grains of sand
Frogs
Community, sand and cranes, and beauty
Beautiful people and beautiful nature
At the start of the day, we celebrate a bright new way
After I have endured all the tests, after I have seen enough and I have done my best...
Live till all I feel is the music
Gary, where the rootless have taken root, with difficulty, in the rough yet beautiful sandy earth
April 8 | Indiana University Northwest
Devastatingly full of potential, drained of resources
A stable buoy in a whirlpool
Inspire the world with positive thoughts
The story belongs to you
Something is great it deserves a break, now G is coming back...
Time only shapes of the wounds of those who dwell in the cavity
Of left behind remnants of joys killed
Reroute
Tag along to where it will
April 9 | Miller Beach Arts and Creative District
Beauty. In the people, the natural environment ,the Mills. Yes the Mills. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for
the Mills

5. Beautiful crumbling architecture erasing an era of abundant jubilation
April 21 | Paul H. Douglas Center (Calumet + Gary Middle College)
In silence we walked, but I hear the rustling of the leaves, the small whispers from my classmates. All of
us admiring beauty
And the sandy paths lead me home
A dying city that has lost its splendor
A city like no other America’s industrial mother
The beautiful nature, almost talking to me
Birds chirping, trains howling, nature is always about being happy
Sand dusting off my shoes, crunching under my feet
Everything coming together in unity
The smooth flowing waters the bristling trees Oh Nature!
Little paw prints stuck in the mud, running around having fun
My arms begin to feel like tree branches as my fingertips become the leaves
Amazing breathtaking
Trees, old brown... trees
Long trees, small trees
Trees
Trees on the ground
Trees in my trail
Trees, old brown... trees
I see the water waves moving as the wind makes its way around the forest
As I close my eyes and follow wherever the wind takes me I end up in the middle of nowhere
All I can hear is fast trains. Dogs barking. Leaves blowing fast as if someone was trying to attack

6. The wind tickling the trees and they stand tall laughing loud
Nature next to nothing
As I close my eyes and grasped the smooth air, I heard the sound of nature
The leaves danced to the beat of the wind and the melody of the birds
April 22 | Paul H. Douglas Center
Cold weather, warm hearts separated by miles apart
Hot days, cool nights, crisp fall colors beautiful and bright
Some may see Gary as a wasteland
But you'd have to live here to see how we band together
To enjoy outdoors with nice weather
Whenever and wherever
We're always here for each other
Gary is the home of many pleasant memories, even though the eyes do not confirm so
Serenity and peace are both found here
April 29 Douglas Center
I like owls they are beautiful I love them very much. Owls. Owls.
Sees a mouse in her stomach growls
Brown giant walking stick looks like a stick
I saw a brown duck sit
I saw the turtle walk
Beaches and sand all around I just love that they are easily found
We measure time by our kids walking through the dune grass, summer after summer
First dwarfed now peeking above
In the city that many have declared destined to doom and decay is the southern shore of Lake Michigan
Sand dunes and plant diversity of incredible magnitude and magnificence

7. Long ago, all American towns were connected by inter-urban trains.
Today Gary is one of the few places still served by this network
Gary's environment envelops us like a giant bowl or hammock
Where we can nestle in the nest of nature while surrounded with industry
Who knew it took a fire to revive something beautiful
I love living here
Gary is the place to be
It's beautiful here
Everywhere there's green, but there is also fright
Breathtaking
Burned branches, birth of beds for Karner blue butterfly
Walking through and seeing true, the world around from sky to ground
Gary Parks ignite sparks of hope and joy for each girl and boy
People never realize the beauty of our city till someone shows you
Gary is the place to be
Local parks provide the space for communities to enjoy a sense of place
I am a squirrel I like to eat acorns and other nuts, my favorite treat
Trees and plants and dunes afar. Hike or bike don't drive the car
May 16 | Steel City Academy
Gary's steel mill produces steel that pollutes the air with gas and that's bad because Gary is where we
were born and raised and we treat it like it's a piece of garbage in a garbage can. Wish I can live back then
when the Railcats would win
Gary used to be a beautiful I don't know what happened to this place I'm trying to solve this case
It's probably too late in the rate that this is going at I don't think that we can save this place
Blue sky and white clouds that's Heaven and Destiny

8. Not only is my city ugly it's also beautiful
I'm going to play basketball all summer long, listen to music and sing songs. Play gestures and having fun
When I go outside the home I see grass and trees sometimes it's really hot
And other times the cold stings like bees
I see kids playing in the grass staining their knees
I see a big bright sun that's yellow like cheese
Sometimes I think Gary isn't as bad as it seems
I see better and I see worse trash all over the ground I'm hearing gun sounds but some spots it's quiet
At least I can sleep at night not worrying about a thing now all I'm thinking about is my old dreams
Growing up in Gary is actually rough like looking at the boys trying to be tough
Thinking that everyone is cool with you but you always have that friend tearing you down
Making you look like a fool
This is Gary at night things can get a little scary
Bad things can happen quick like it's an evil Tinker Bell the fairy
I walk around with the last name “Muhammad”
People poking my religion am I Muslim or am I a Christian
It don't bother me because I know what I want to do and who I want to be
May 16 | Steel City Academy
My cousin died in Gary and now my family is going through a rough time
I'm glad that the school year almost over I'm moving to Atlanta and never coming back after October
Mommy not here no more it's time to grow
I think Gary is horrible there are potholes on almost every street, people don't care, it's litter everywhere
Why we can't be same but our own personality
Sometimes it can be fun, these bumpy roads need to be fixed
Gary is the same old Gary from years ago, people die every day and it's not cool
Instead of killing you should help the people in need or even help the young succeed

9. I see Gary as a place of hope
To me Gary is the poorest city
I see Gary as a town that I was not born in and I don't know anything about. I do know that Gary has
some messed up streets and no good paying jobs.
May 17 | Wirt- Emerson School for Visual and Performing Arts
People say things to ruin the joyfulness
But at the end we all have to contribute
To make our city better
People say Gary is like a ghost town
But what I say is that I see hope
Can't really remember the last time I got joy outta Gary
You can look around and notice Gary is filled with situations that seem nothing but hairy
But aside from crime in Gary the laughing in parties remind you Gary can still have joy
Roaches, rats in apartments, mamas smoking, baby starving, ghetto, hell, slums, bottoms
What you want to call it
Nobody role model everybody alcoholic.
The shorties either gangbang or basketballing
The jungle I live in almost every day is hell worrying about my brothers and sisters
Praying they don't get murdered or end up in jail
Gary, oh Gary
We come from Gary
Straight out of Gary
Oh how I love Gary
“Gary is so horrible and dangerous,” people say
But if you live in Gary you would know the beauty of where you stay
Gary be lit especially when summer hit
People say “Gary is so terrible”
But sometimes it seems unbearable
I love my city from 5th to 51st, although Gary is run down it couldn't get any worse

10. I find Gary's environment to be sad by all the trash I find and upset of all the careless faces I see walking
about even though there is clearly pollution and trash seems to me that people suck. Not all of them of
course, all the broken down buildings does not help the situation all we need is people's participation in
building better homes for those in need
People always say that Gary Indiana is no fun
Me I always say Gary could be a better place
But most people always wanted to leave straight Outta Gary
Gary, a place that has simply been worn down and abandoned, slowly building its way back to life it
wants to shine in the light of the sky and be considered a beautiful place just as how person can feel on
the inside
They say we are savages
They are on the outside looking in
Treating our city like two-month-old cabbages
But everybody sins
Everyday people in Gary are either chasing success or running from failure
A scenic city with room for improvement
Gary is trash it's a big irritation something like a rash
Gary is a good city. Things they say are good and bad, but no one will ever know unless they visit the city
Blistering winters and scolding summers
Walking the pothole infested streets
Lies of people that haven't lived our life is the only bummer
They murdered family members but I can't up my heat
Gary is a city where people deserve a better environment and more opportunities to better people’s lives
I heard that Gary needs more money
Gary is the place where we all, the people, need one another to make our voices heard
And to open more opportunities and have a better environment
I've heard that Gary is a dump
To me Gary is stuck to me like a bump
I always hear people say “Gary is so dirty and disgusting”
If Gary is so dirty why don't people help by cleaning or picking up trash?
Maybe the city wouldn't be so disgusting

11. People always say Gary is a bad place to live but I think it's nice to live time to time
May 19 | Charter School of the Dunes class 1
You think all people are nice
But you haven't met everybody in your life
You can't change people even if you could
You can't change that they're from the hood
When I walk outside there is always black kids fighting
We are at the store owned by a family of whites they always think we stealing
When we just waiting on our way to McDonald's
There's always black people saying there are so many crises in the world.
I want to make people shine
Stay on my grind
I want to show Gary that it's not a waste of my time
People be getting hit by the sign
Like every day it's a crime
People steady talking like they really know me
People steady bluffin so they really need to show me
That I can win this game and you just thought I was lonely
Fighting for the chain so all yo eyes lookin to see
Now the people are being depressed
And they are psyching their minds out
They becoming a pest
And how they apparently find out
That I'm becoming the best
Living in Gary is tragic
In my sleep all I hear is gunshots
Homeless people not able to cook in pots
But living in Gary you have to stay strong
Because living this life is long
Gary is the place to be
Yeah it's shooting yeah it's dying
But it's Gary that's where are you hiding
People fighting murder murder

12. Crying that's what I hear every night and that's why I'm dying
All I see is thugs, money, murder, drugs
Why can't I see success, money, hugs
I just want to make it
Everytime I close my eyes I pray to God don't take me
This world white on black crime in my hood, walking in the woods, seeing our world fade away
It's hard to say it's over, our world is on fire, seeing a tear saying she's a liar, don't be a crier
We can never try, word on the street someone died and you never got to say goodbye
I'm black it's black on black in my hood
I don't know why I got wood what should I do
If I could I don't know
I'm black and I'm in a black hood
Black lives matter and better is good
I love my city Gary
But when I walk outside
People be scaring me
In Gary life isn't fair
But little do they know I got the best hair
I love the city
Everything on my mind it feels like a crime thinking and thinking I should be believing all of this time
While I trying to rhyme over and over feels like I'm getting older
I am about to tell you something about my life in grey people
Men get new girlfriends every week can't ever get a wife this is the reason I'm about to leave life
Every time I'm having a conversation about my hair
About the struggle, the curl, the time to care
Then somebody with long silky light hair
Talks about how easy it is, fresh it is, pretty it is
Gary is struggling, it's twisted like a curl and nobody has the time to care
It's not easy, fresh, or pretty like silky hair
On the street saw a cat it was lonely
In Gary I was lonely, had no friends
But then he told me, go to school and show em
For some reason now everybody know me

13. Living in a home all alone, no place to call home, bums asking for money but do they even need the
money, going to buy crack just to get whacked in the back, they don't even have money to own a hat, I
seen a one eyed cat, birds looking like that's people living with bugs and rats, Dang Gary, why are you
even here I hope I'm being clear. Peace
People people are the fear of me which gives me anxiety
People think I boring because I'm not talking like other humans
Man I'm just doing what I'm doing now to go to school
With all these different humans
People bossing me around do this do that
But all I really want to do is sit here and relax
I feel like I'm in the army people
People fightin, dying, and shooting all around me
People always getting high
They smoke so much they already ended their life
May 19 | Charter School of the Dunes | Class 2
The value of Gary should not be deemed by the crimes and actions that have happened
But by the joy and striving it has created as a whole
Roses are red, violets are blue
Sugar is sweet unlike you
Gary I love it I was born here so I will live here and die here
The pain the suffering of an innocent child
Didn't deserve to let his mom down
He said he would quit he said he would stop
But all he did was take one more shot
Brother brother might one day marry a mother
Sister sister might marry a mister
Me I'm praying that I won't leave
That I will stay for eternity
When you hear your mother’s cry with all the reality lies
Thank God that she's alive
Bullying people can be so lonesome
Dumping trash on the world will poison it more

14. But if you clean up the poison then flowers shall grow even more
Gary one land that can't be as sweet as the next blackberry
Roses are red, violets are blue
Daniel can't draw, but how about you
Cold, windy, boring, lame, that's a shame to come to school on this rainy day
It's cloudy and quiet coming outside to play, no I should not try it
We lie and fight all this hate at night
But in day it's bright and the city is alive
Roses are red, violets are blue
Yana smell like butt, Amari does too
The sun is always in the sky shining bright which provides plants light
It's dark out and not safe, stay inside where it's safe
Stay inside don't go out, you never know who's watching you
May 19 | Charter School of the Dunes | Class 3
The lives and Gary are so short
People would rather go to the airport
All abandoned houses don't know what to do
Too scared to walk pass and I don't know what to do
It ain't nobody out here to walk with me to see me go to my destination
And I'm so scared
Broke down
The city I live in... It's more so my part
The Westside shattered battered, torn, broken and I remain awoken
Have to stay mindful, gun shots every night, broken bottles, half dressed wannabe models
Paper replaced by blades to release my pain judged by my choice is to love
Blamed for the melanin in my veins yet my pain fades
Dread, fear running through the streets, messing around at night could get yourself beat
I've seen a lot of it recently, my closest friend would've been shot because of these idiots on the block
A mixed child I am, once blind I now see,

15. See the world ridden with pain and controversy
Thoughts of beauty fading away as I drive-by
So glad that I just missed that drive-by
Don't know I just know time flies
Gary, what I see is a poor city
Struggling to get paid
Struggling to get saved
The color of city now erase by hate
But the people of city can determine its fate
I just want to go outside and not hear guns firing
Not hear and see people screaming and hollering
So I moved from Illinois to Gary and hope for a rewind
Now I see way more people screaming with glee and I know this is my time
Basketball is my favorite sport I like it when I dribbling down the court
People keep dying
Put the guns down
It's time that Chicago good side shine
Mothers keep crying family keep dying
Police aren't helping cus the cops the one smiling
The violence in the trauma kills us all
Physically or mentally he destroys us all
As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
My pain hurts more the gang losing the turf, my word follow over more like a shirt
My house, far from the store
I ain't walk that far it take 15 minutes if we walk
That is why I can't go that far
May 19 | Charter School of the Dunes | Class 4
Bumblebee bumblebee why do they fly
They have a little wings
Why are you here you just a skinny thing

16. Gary is lame but it have a good fame
You stay on my mind
All day every time
But you can never be mine
But you stay on my mind
Hello beautiful stranger
That I never meet
I've seen you around
But not like that we've seen
Eye to eye but said hi
I would like to get to know you
And don't say goodbye
I get on the my bus and go to school
I get them good grades because I'm not a fool
Look out my window seein broken cars
People spitting bars
Thievery, gun fights, foul language
The whole package
Hi beautiful sky
Oh my goodness you are so high
I wish I could fly
So I can say hi to that beautiful sky
Somethings I understand, somethings I don't
I'm just like a bird trying to find my way home
And it always to be a smaller person who think they bigger
So why are you tryna to cry if you have no tears to shed
And these are the things that keep me awake in bed
School, school, school, I'm too cool for school
I'm going fast like a bull, I'm a car I need fuel
Never run out, need some help give a shout
Just let it out when in a drought
Big ice cream you make me want to scream
It always you and me big ice cream
I lick you clean with a little sprinkles on top
With a little sprinkles in between

17. I am calm like a stream
I show no conflict to my team
I calm so slowly and beautifully
June 17 | Lake Effekt Grafitti Fest
Tadpoles, toads, and toadies
As I look through the window I can see the moments that you shared with me
This is my home my birthplace, my city, my heart
I like turtles and Lake Effekt fest
Miller – Steel, Sand, Sun
Strength, Softness, Heat
Polarization/Community
Men and mills in churlish rows – dark gray like the steel
A phoenix rising
In truth there is light
Diamond in the rough
Source of love, source of peace, source of light
Fill our hearts, homes, and Streets all day and all night
Live it...
June 24 | Green Gary Day
Gary weather is OK, it good to live at, it a little violence but it's calm down
Gary have some nice plants and trees. I love the beach in Gary because it joyful in the school are good
you'll learn a lot and pass your grade I think growing up and Gary is fun
I feel the nice cool breeze gently across my face
Gary is like rose to my eye

18. Many memories and talent
So much history
Gary, my one home
Gary, the city where no one is forgotten
Make sure to read about rain
Don't go insane
And remember the meaning of your name
Gary is full of fun from the steel mills to the landfills there are many things to learn
Clean water
Gary is a wonderful place to live
Gary is a wonderful environment
The lake of Gary will take your breath away
The lake is so breathtaking it makes you want to stay
July 9 | Emerson
No words can express the depth of her contentment as she walks along the beach
As the waves lapping against the shores they create the rhythm of her life
July 17 | Parkshore Commons
The milk flower is a little flower but every time when I think of milk flower I think of roses
I think it smells like air freshener
It is cool for us
July 17 | Glen Ryan Park
Purple flowers, pink skies, someday they have to rise
No people around, no kids on the playground

19. People never got channeled that's right this place is abandoned
I need a line I'm not good with rhymes
Tears tend to fall from my eyes but puddles never formed
Going outside is like being in the wild because there aren't any locked doors
It comes from young to old people randomly, getting shot by cops, sometimes I wish it would all stop
I feel another lane has approached
When I walk out my doors I see drug dealers and ppl selling crack rocks
And people getting killed on the next block
My thoughts racing through my head like a track star on the field
Not knowing whether to leave or stay
I fight myself in my sleep while dreaming because my thoughts try to become my reality
I'm stuck between now and later and all I'm trying to make it to is better days
It was a hot summer day we was realizing how we can change the community today
And how we can change nature into POETRY
July 18 | Tolleston park
Say you trust him set them up
Assassinated like he Trump
Love is more than the word
Love isn't easy
Love is deeper than the ocean when you really mean it
Love never leaves though it might fade
Don't let the ones you love slip away
Do it look like I was left of Bad and Boujee
Pizza
Cheesy, yummy
Melting, warm, eating
Hungry, happy, filing, great
Delicious
Feel like a road full of holes waiting to be whole while constantly being dulled

20. I love you
Talent is horrible to waste, dig deep inside your faith and persevere through all obstacles in your way
I can't believe I'm not me
I wish I could go back and be the me I used to be
Gary
Greatness is the key to a better city
Ambition to go on and be greater
Remorse given to one above us
Yesterday's problem
I look into the pain of others as I try to figure out what caused it.
I look around the city we live in and then I realize it's the predicament we are in.
The air is polluted, the people are sad, the government is careless, and others are just mad.
But oh how I love how Gary is still standing because as long as I live people will always keep trying
They wrote Gary off but soon you'll bloom
July 20 | Ironwood Park
The sound of the rain dripping from the leaves
I heard raindrops and thunder and it made me wonder how long will it last today
Drip
The sound of rain made a loud boom! sound
As I walked through the door
Rough around the edges trying to mold my manifest destiny
Trimmin myself to grow immune to the brainwashed lies
Got social media and politicians saying, “GOT EM SEE!?”
Violence in my city is crazy, wish it would just cease
But there's no such thing as perfect so I'll just let it be
July 21 | Brunswick park
I'm the man I keep money in pants

21. That's your girl I don't care she got a man
Forget a job I'm just trying to get a band
Shots fired, dogs barking, street light darkened,
40 shots, going off, a body drop
Every day I wake up I thank God that I'm woken
I want you people to listen to these words that are spoken
Because I know people that ain't even live to see another day
Instead of crying I grab a pen and a pad and just flow away
Red, green, white, black, all these different cars driving down my block back to back
I don't know them, they don't know me, but Gary a small world maybe one day we'll meet
Aug 9 | ArtHouse: A Social Kitchen
Beneath the cold exterior of crumbling concrete, you showed me the vibrance of persistent life
Scene: Our little keep in the trees.
She said to me, “I'll win that.”
(Talking of Toni
Words of Toni
Awards of Toni.)
I believe. I believe. I believe.
You become what you think about
Gary, Indiana will always be my home town.
It is a most unique and creative place and one of the greatest hidden secrets around!
Talent, skill, opportunities abound
And the challenge is: to develop and discover the treasures and potentials in all it's citizens to be found!
To hold dear the light we have found / we must sprinkle poetry like a sword / let it save us / let it ignite a
revolution in the sanctum of the soul
They say “no one comes back”, I'm somebody, and I've come back
Everybody's
Gotta run away, get away, claim “not my responsibility”
But I choose to stay; this is my home
As I walk around my neighborhood, I hear people laughing, talking, and music playing.
I smell BBQ on the grill and headlights from other cars blinding other cars

22. Late summer sun bleaches the sky pale blue
Frenzied back to school activities clog parental calendars
Jazz flows through the parks.
This here is my city, my town, my life
This here is the Region
Artistic benevolence swimming around malevolent systems
The city's changing now, roads under construction, change gon' come but not for Sam.
I can't see, I can't speak.. take and eat, my body given to the street and the weed's... sidewalk sale and
sigh, wild rose stammers in the steel blue morning... Lazarus, arise.
Cottonwood snow brings to life the resilience of our winter and the spring it brings forth.
Gary has a password and that password is Art
The stars aren't as distant as your love...
If only I could walk your galaxy
Vacant lots and empty homes,
Glasses half empty or half full?
Opportunities for growth and change
At every turn
Turn Gary towards hope.
#MGGA
Make Gary Great Again
It's happening
Space. Green. Trash. Wildflowers. A smattering of hope and love with reminders of human nature
Oct 2 | West Side High Art Club
I was born and raised here
Anyone is family at gary
Good or bad
We have good times
Trying to find a way out
But you can't take it away from me
Even when you try I will always plea

23. Born and raised here
Have you fear because my city will always be next
My childhood memory
What is life. What do you do what should you be how should you feel?
Life gives you lemons everyday but you have to learn to live through it all.
Thinking about all this makes you wanna give up but you don't
So much violence and turmoil surrounds me
But all I see is beauty
Memories began in my youth, not all were good
I choose to be free... Gary is my Forever Home
Nov 2 | 21st Century Charter School
The streets were made for us to cherish and take care of
We put too much pressure on the streets
That's why they crack
Just some piece of ground people walk on
Or so they thought
I hear and see everything
People don't pay any mind to me
I'm just a piece of ground people walk on
I want to help but I cannot
I'm just a little piece
Of ground people walk on
I'm like a mirror with images reflecting on my face
These faces I see through this puddle
Some parents pressuring us to be better from their mistakes
Why can't I be my own great?
You better be in control before you crash
I see everything that you don’t get
I felt it raining and the rain explains how I'm feeling right now
It makes me wanna go on the ground and not make a sound
But I just realize
I'm already down on the ground so now I feel worthless

24. Pick me up and put me back together
But remember, nothing can hurt me, I'm the streets
Ready to be new again and not on my own
I used to like seeing beautiful girls in skirts
As constellations illuminate on the right
I sit here getting rained on and just think
That one day someone will move me
I'm not free, a brown structure of leaves
Tell me something I don't know about why you take my life
Sharpen me then throw me out
The buildings felt the same way we all felt
I saw the buildings as they smiled at me nicely
I saw the trees as their hair falling off, changing colors
In the breeze
As I was walking through the valley of Gary
I feel the breeze and hear the leaves
The little kids playing and staring at the buildings
Reminds me of myself a little
I love myself with my pride and joy
In Gary, Indiana, like a normal girl or boy
I treat myself and others with respect
Just cause we live in Gary doesn't me we are little specks
You think just cause we're from Gary we're dumb
Or close minded
You can't see that we're smart cause you're so blinded
Gary looking in the sky, it was so divine
Back to Earth here I come
This community fallen apart
But the smiles and kids
At the park playing together
Sharing together
The community is going to live as a family

25. Let's clean the streets like family
The way the grass is compared to other states
It made me feel ashamed how Gary looks
Even though we can't rewrite the past
We can change the future
Today I explored the poetry on the old church
She has lots of bars like dang
Spitting so much fire
My city
My city
The building I seen
Wondering
Why are you looking at me
I'm not interesting
I'm just as important as that tree
I don't understand
I barely stand
My bricks are falling
Black Mecca was most important
It taught history
We can fight
Fight through the pain
Just know you're not living in vain
The tree branches move in the breeze
Yet damage in the pollution
The tree heals the air in reproduction
The most important thing I saw
Was the speech on the wall
Down the street
It made me feel important
Lord, when are you gonna open up the door to this beautiful church
Feel like we was making the building have more courage
With the roots they probably felt alive
I really don't know how to write

26. The building was burnt down
Gary was beautiful and had a crown
But now it's a ghost town
The grass doesn't look the same when it's wet
The grass is kinda gloomy when it's wet
The broken glass, brick, trash all around
Yet farther down the street is a new town
Blue and red houses I see
Becoming nice as can be
Yet further down is back to where it begins
Every building all boarded in
Trash and junk that's all I see
Trash and junk it gets to me
Dirty, broken, litter
They make this town bitter
Single parent homes
Can't get enough love
Can we make this town better
6 Dec | 18th Street Gary
Born in the city by the lake
Always knew I was destined to be Great
Today was the day that I thought futuristically
Did away with the past and balanced life on the hands of time
Let the city lights shine on your future
Let your possibilities be endless
Unbounded are the dream found in the darkness
And beneath the detritus
Being the love that creates love
Barking dogs, quiet lake, empty house
And the best people on Earth

27. Collected in the community boxes/Misc:
My love is the light I see in their eyes
The problem is I don’t get to see it much any more
The light is gone
Talent abounds in Gary
Native born and newly planted
Love is indeed a revolution
Open to opportunity, to development, to growth, to hope, to healing, to eating, to family…
Please come let me feed you, please come let me change the way you feel…
For I am Gary, welcome home
Gary is made for you and me!
Gary, IN: City of strength, city of steel
Surviving with a song that its people can feel
Gary, born of water, ice, and wind
Seeds of change
Nurtured, destroyed
Find the balance of rebirth
The anger of this political destruction arises
Causes hurricane feeling’s inside
Won’t subside
So use that force to develop new surprises
Gary, where love meets steel meets arts meets neighbors greats everyone
Optimism, from the wild green take back, to the smiling faces in the streets.
In January, 1956, I was born in Gary, Indiana, when I moved there at age 22 ... everything before had just
been gestation.
Gary, Indiana gave birth to the Jackson 5
Of all the states in the world none of them can match our vibe
Stop then for a visit check us out
And see if you don’t agree
What Gary Indiana is really like

28. Robust ivy crawls across crumbling concrete
As nature rebuilds our city
Make no small plans
The environment in Gary seems unstable, but it is willing to change!
Thriving and surviving
Keeping our head about the rain and pain
This is not a remake of to be or not to be or roses are red
Concrete meets muddy water
We grow here and shift through
Daytime beneath iceberg smog
A rose growing from concrete before the dawn of day
The sweet smell of Mill iron in the summertime as a child
Harbingers of spring in Gary
Crane flying overhead and returning robins digging worms for their babies
I’ve seen it decay like fruit out in the sun
They run; from you
They flee
We stay; lay in the decay
And watch Miller Beach wash away the sorrow
The poverty, please tomorrow come back to me; Gary
Perfect seasons
Just enough sun
Not too much snow
And perfect rain
Perfect
Equal but separate
A person is her child
It take us to accept it
Come for the beach, stay for the people
I hope that you find spring in every season of your life

29. Jesus died for all the sinners
All the sinners of the world
Different shades, dark to light
They are precious in his sight
Jesus died for all the sinners of the world
I got lost on my way to Beverly Shores
My motives have wandered
Corn burst crushed between my wisdom tooth molar
Spiced teardrops from my nose
I walked along the 12 ocean shores
Could I speak to you again
To see you, through blinding light
I want to see the heart beyond the skin
Down by the riverside
Now we see light through pain
I don’t know how to get used to the new chin
Something new, looks familiar
Here there the trees tell tales
Of other times, other people, other dreams of old
Dee Mooch Kee Kee Ah; woman in silver