A Thug's Warning

"Writing comes from pain," says Eric, a police officer in the 67th precinct.

A native of Homestead, Florida, Eric was a high school football player and wrestler, ranked as high as third in the state, until a knee injury sidelined him. He worked as a corrections officer in juvenile justice before joining the NYPD. After he gets off patrol, he comes to Flatbush Gardens to train alongside our youth. We love having him in our boxing family.

"If it wasn't for wrestling and football, I could have been in the drug game," says Eric.

"If you have something proactive to do, it keeps you off the streets. The summer's coming. School's over. The more kids in the gym, that's less people I have to run after during the day."

A Thug's Warning

To you young thugs

You dumb thugs

This poem is for you

A warning to rise up

From that which consumes you

You conjure ideas

In a paradox way

Your dexterity with money

Will assure you're affluent one day

But at what risk and what cost are you willing to pay?

The police are out to get you,

Give you years and send you away

The drug dealers are out to shoot you

And send you to your grave

Your neurotic need for money

Will slap you in your face

You comprise many hustles,

Which is the safest way?

Decipher your clouded life

And make a choice today

Reluctance will only hinder you

There's no need to hesitate

Treachery, torture and anguish

Are what thugs must embrace

An incalculable amount of pain

While living the thuggish way

I live my life vehemently,

Happy and worry-free each day

True happiness begins

When you denounce

Your thuggish ways.

The Man in Me

No father at home, I grew up alone

struggling to find the man in me. I'm torn

between choices, good and evil voices

coaching and telling me which me to be.

I have the thugs on the streets, selling

drugs, getting cheese, flashing their money

and tempting me. But a voice says to me don't

be fooled by the green, go to school child and

read. Watch the thugs envy thee.

It's my choice so I have no remorse for the 

voice that loses to the voice I choose, I'm

just happy I found the man in me. Now I take

to the street this man I came to be, you 

could either love me or let me be... the man in

me.