49th and Hamp

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I grew up in 49th and Hamp,
Northside the Mil,
’89 to ’07—
learning early how to watch a room
before I spoke.

All-white classrooms to
the all-Black ones.
Same kid, different rules.
Belonging was never automatic,
even when the faces matched mine.

I loved the city anyway—
the winters, the 62 bus, rough patches,
the way Milwaukee shaped me
without fully claiming me.
Sometimes I felt outside of everything,
even fam.

Friends mattered.
They let me be strange, unfinished,
a little off-beat.
The weird kid with too many interests,
too many questions, eating too many mozzarella sticks.

College cracked open the door.
I walked through carrying the Northside with me—
adaptable, observant, still yet, searching.

Now I see it:
totally not fitting-cleanly
made me many things at once.
A multi-hyphenated artist
built at one intersection,
49th and Hamp.

 

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- JOMO