Stay Dangerous: A Poetic Reflection on Community Survival

When we leave someone we love, we tell them stay safe, be easy. Safety if you want to keep it short. Stay dangerous If you want to make it a sport. These are our daily departs. When you come from parts where people depart daily. Timelines with daily reports, friends, grieving of sports of them playing. Stay Dangerous! My cuz tell me every time, it's just a condition of our environment. A way to express love to a loved one so another man won't dictate his retirement it really means no harm, just safety.

Because if I kill you before you kill me, I'm safely going to make it back home. And if I kill you before you kill me my loved ones will thank me while yours will mourn. I'll read a post about it once a week. Some of them I know, some of them I don't. But I'm going to hear my city speak. Staying Dangerous causes the squares to make changes. Open up from their box and connect parts out the box for rearrangements, They got to stay dangerous!

The self defense connotation in that phrase is understandable. But what about the negative vibrations that phrase has sanctioned when we spread it throughout our communities? I've seen single parents be separated by single bullets to his appearance. Now she's really a single parent in our community. I've seen tears wet up shirts so heavy, if you ring the shirt out  it'll break the levees. We swim in pain in our communities.

I've seen a best friend who kept it on him like a best friend. He killed his best friend because Staying dangerous was his best friend in our community. But this is our community. I know it's unity when we create lingo to make the world mingle, but it's you and me when we ain't stationed in the same vibrations. The world can't feel the rhythm of our problems. That's why we step on one another. Sometimes we get out of line and got to check one another. Our tones get grown. Ain't no respect in one another.

Staying dangerous just shows you ain't got no respect for your mother. I don't want you to stay dangerous. Yeah, I want you to be safe. Yeah, I want you to be easy. Most importantly, I want you to stay alive. Poetically speaking!

This poem explores the theme of love, departure, and the concept of staying dangerous as a means of self-preservation in certain environments. Fly Ry begins by reflecting on the common practice of telling loved ones to "stay safe" or "be easy" when they leave. He acknowledges that safety is often the priority, but staying dangerous can also be seen as a way of navigating and surviving in a challenging environment.

The poem suggests that in certain communities, where departures are frequent and violence is prevalent, staying dangerous can be a matter of self-defense. It becomes a way to ensure one's own safety and protect loved ones from potential harm. His cousin is mentioned as someone who consistently emphasizes the importance of staying dangerous, viewing it as a necessary response to their environment and a means of expressing love.

The second part of the poem delves into the consequences and negative aspects of the "stay dangerous" mentality. He highlights the violence and loss that occurs in his community as a result of this mindset. He's witnessed single parents becoming truly single due to the loss of a partner, and the heavy emotional toll it takes on individuals. This poem suggests that staying dangerous can lead to the destruction of relationships, even the taking of a best friend's life.

Fly Ry then questions the impact of this mindset on his community, acknowledging that while it may create unity and a shared language, it also perpetuates negative vibrations. He argues that the world outside his community cannot fully understand the struggles and pain experienced within it, leading to a lack of empathy and an environment where people step on one another.

In the concluding lines, Fly Ry makes a plea for safety, emphasizing that he wants people to be alive and protected rather than embracing a dangerous lifestyle. He expresses a desire for his community to thrive and for individuals to respect and care for one another, contrasting the idea of staying dangerous with the importance of staying alive.

Overall, this poem explores the complex emotions and tensions that arise when considering the need for safety and self-preservation in challenging environments while also recognizing the negative consequences and loss that can result from such a mindset. This poem is necessary.

Listen to the poem here 

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