Surrounded and Surviving It

Imagine this...
A puppy coming into the world
Surrounded on all sides
By a catcher and a killer.
Barely a chance to squirm
And get its eyez open
Before it has two choices,,,
To be captured or
To die.
Then
Imagine this...
Born in the 1950s/60s
To two drunken drug addicts
A catcher on one side
A killer on the other
In a neighborhood down south
With nothing on the outside
Except more
Catchers and Killers
No passage
Past the invisible color line
On both sides of the door.
Your family thinks of you
No more
Than they do.
Imagine this...
Trying to survive that
And ask yourself
How the hell
The dog managed to escape
Both the catcher
And the killer.
Cuz that's me
Barking and biting
Instead of scratching and survivin'
Without much of a choice
Let alone a chance
And still...
Imagine this...
Here I am
If you can
Surrounded by thick glass walls
And concrete ceilings
Where you can't see up there
Let alone get
Up there.
Then imagine this...
Not going psycho
In the midst
An uber-bitch with an attitude
Fighting and clawing
Pasts racists and rapists
Tryin' ta find
Whatever life God gave me.
Had for me.
Had for me, past tense, this is true
Barely holdin' on
By a thread of sanity.
Running from the Catcher
And the Killer.
And they're still looking for me.