Written in Cement

About the Book

A collection of poems

About the Author

About the author Ali Richard has lived in Hartford Connecticut all of his life. He is 30 years old and has spent most of his childhood getting in trouble with the law. First being arrested at 8 years old. At age 14 he spent 8 months in Long lane school. A school away from home for serious juvenile delinquents. Released at the age of 15 he promptly returned but this time being charged as an adult receiving a 25 suspended after 12 years in prison sentence, with not one hair on his face he now had to enter prison and became a man. Here in this book lies the pain of a child and the life of a young man. These poems are not about glorifying the streetlife in contrast they are about the truth of streetlife, from the eyes of a vet. I’m from the burnt side of the spoon you know; the wrong side of the tracks, some people are born with silver spoons in their mouths. Me every spoon I put in my mouth had been used to cook crack, and purify heroin on, Selecting a spoon to eat with was a hard task indeed in the ghetto. You see I’m from the bottom of the streets. I guess you could say I am the streets, I’m a true product of the streets and it violence, and its drug abuse. I’m the baby with a pacifier, a crackhead mother, and a dopefein for a father. I’m what the 80’s created. The after birth of the 70’s, I’m the idea that never evolved into a real thought or became a living entity. I spent my youth in pain and my pain in tears, and my tears in prison, As I put my life on paper and offer you my soul I hope the burden of my life becomes your knowledge.