My life as a hustler, I’ve
learned how to seek out all
the betrayal addicts will
give you just so they can get
more.
I’ve learned business and
marketing, supply and demand.
I’ve learn chemistry, measurements,
promotion, and management.
The game taught me how
to have a cold heart, even
though I know how to bless
people like god, Amen.
In this game friends become
enemies, loved ones steal and
for a crumb, shit —
anybody will kill at will.
I’ve seen deals go wrong, and
police terrorize homes.
Mothers turn tricks for hits.
Gold diggers fall in love with
the grip until her man get
a 10-25 stiff.
I seen love fly away over
a couple grams of yay.
Grand mom, and mom dukes
raiding my room everyday.
I went from block to block
Until I noticed that this has to stop.
Rayon Cauthen is a writer, poet, musician, and entrepreneur from Trenton. He grew up, he says, “in an environment where the weak get strong though violence.” He joined the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen’s Adult Education Program in 2011 and received his GED in 2012. He has since enrolled at Mercer County Community College, started his own greeting card company, and performed music and poetry at various venues.
