5: Curb Appeal by Adan Bean
Part 1:
Part 2:
From this week's episode:
Check out this episode on Unpleasant Design from 99 ½ invisible: HERE
Check out these episodes on Busting the Myths of Poverty from On The Media: HERE
Some organizations in Atlanta addressing Homelessness:
Be The Bridge Organization (for racial reconciliation):
Documentary: 13th on Netflix
Adan Contact Information:
Below are the words from the poem "Curb Appeal", written and performed by Adan Bean.
Curb Appeal
Be as it may;
Home of the castaways
the city whispers
We fast and pray.
A sinner’s saturday
The saints of the latter-day,
From the Fabulous Fox
We're like a block away,
Courtland & Pine, where misfortunes align
the great disparity between your portion and mine
Such a morbid design, but of course with the time
that passes it has to start warping our mind
This familiar ugly
The foreign beauty
Amidst these redlined neighborhoods
You might find a ruby
There’s hidden gems
in plain sight
In this vicious world
Rufus Wainwright
[when you’re] limbo-ing the poverty line
your life is some kind of crime
Panhandle for dollar signs;
feeding me can get you fined
Medicate w/ freebase, drank or wine
Missing rungs on that ladder to success they want us to climb
_____________________
“No handouts”
“I don’t carry cash”
"I got you next time”
“This is all I have”
Every decline to help
sounds super hollow
hungry belly with
only pride to swallow
The pebbles of the street
leave impressions on my cheek
today’s newspapers serve
as tonight’s bedsheet
Trying to make ends meet,
Locked in a dead heat
with survival and yet,
I’m racing with these lead feet
Just as well
(the streets of) Pratt & Bell
Prior to heaven
But after hell
Poverty’s Paradise
Vagrant Valhalla
Somewhere between the Inshallah
and the Our Father
The park is my kitchen
my livingroom is that bridge
my bed is that bench
and the trashcan is my fridge
Midtown, 4th Ward,
SW - too strong
The scabs of the city
Been picked at for too long
Foxes have holes, birds have nests, the son of Man has no place where he can rest.
Foxes have holes, birds have nests, the son of Man has no place where he can rest.
_____________________
The poverty stricken
the inadequate
the indigent
the hapless
the penniless
the destitute
the only difference is...
...these guys rock a tie and suit.
Corporate Camouflage; 3 car garage
The McMansion expansion; opulent mirage
The 5 bedrooms; curb appeal, class struggle
The economy will commonly burst your housing bubble
The suburban sprawl
gaudy high rises
lock in the mortgage rate
'fore they increase prices
empty developments
vacant subdivisions
Cee-Lo told you that that gate could become a prison
Listen - nothing’s wrong if you and yours want a lawn
But a man’s castle is a hassle
if that's where his hearts drawn
A house ain’t a home;
let the government foreclose you;
it’s so true
A roof over your head, can ironically, expose you.
Foxes have holes, birds have nests, the son of Man has no place where he can rest
Foxes have holes, birds have nests, the son of Man has no place where he can rest.
"And it might not be such a bad idea if I never, never went home again..."
