Where the Lights At?

I've been a Harlemite long enough to see 125th Street light up during Christmas season. But this year the stars didn't hang over the strip like they usually do. Instead people and cars make their way thru, bizness as usual, while store dolgiers pick out the crowd with their blow horns and sales. Faces looking hurried. Small children acting grown. Nigga this and nigga that, and he's only twelve but his bubblecoat 16. Sign of the times. Economic downturn, so some make do and some Aves don't get love. And the same old excuses for tolerating make their way thru as well. We don't notice these minor details. Not like we used to. Not like when The Mart was the place where you got your smile on. Now ghetto drama books instead of Black history jewels. Sign of the times. Economic upturn if we avoid the shea butter and keep to Marshall's. But then no matter how much we bend over, in the name of gentrification, stars never go missing Downtown. Folks who got it just won't have it!