From Then to Now

By Larry Duce Cobb

a reality
within each and every
page of this here book
their lives, absolute truth
and all of what took
to help find a way out of
the muck and all the mire
as I and others changed course
by stepping away from the fire
their names werent used
only to protect the guilty
guilty of making a better way
a reality . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984522740

Larry Duce Cobb

Mr. Larry “Duce” Cobb was born in Covington, Georgia. As a child his family relocated to Boston Massachusetts where life for him as he knew it began. Within life’s ups and downs through conversations, he could paint a picture that could be seen and felt. Unbeknownst to him, it was a spring that brought forth the water from the well. Now it is seen and felt within the spoken word through the stories/poems he tells. He has been writing since 1993. Through the Grace of God, he has performed at many open mike events. Some stage performances and on many and any street corners where there are many listeners. He has recorded a TEN (10) track CD, as well as a seventeen (17) track CD. All of this is and was inspired by the words of his loving Mother, Ms. Addie J. Cobb. (May God Bless Her Soul) “I can hear her saying, Write a book.” Places he has performed at include; UMass Boston, The opening act for R&B Legends, The Whispers, The Mighty Clouds of Joy at the Cambridge World’s Fair, Dennis Edwards and The Temptations Review, The Bowery Poetry Club in New York City for Bruce George, and the BNN Community Access TV Station in Boston Mass. As well as roles in movies, Hood life and Life, love, and lost by Anthony Todd Walker. Also an appearance in Gone Baby Gone by Ben Affleck Artists who have inspired him are: Maya Angelou, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Sam Cooke, James Brown, and Barry White, B.B. King, Bobby Blue Bland and a host of others. Mr. Cobb was also the winner of the New England Urban Music Awards for Best Male Spoken Word Artist in 2007, and 2008. God gave him a gift so he wants to give to others what God gave to him. He is also still willing to accept opportunities

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Copyright © 2018 by Larry Duce Cobb.

ISBN:                  Softcover                  978-1-9845-2275-7

                             eBook                       978-1-9845-2274-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 05/14/2018

Xlibris

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PART 1

CONTENTS

The Last Of Me

Made In The U.S.A

Not, Today

The Chains Have Been Broken

Sad Standing There

Back Againt The Wall

Is Listening

How Many Times

No Winners Game

Bares The Soul

No Time Outs

It Hasn’t Been Seen

Be There With Eyes Open To See

Insure For The Children

Accept His Rules

I’ll Take Heed

No Doubt

The Hour Of Victory

That Only Offers

Fear Not

Do It In Short Time

Help To Be Strong

The Best There Is To Do

Be There All The While

Warm On Your Face

Ahead That Lies

Must Be Made

Less To Give

It Can’t And Won’t Lie

Try Once More

Show Your Stuff

While You’re Nappin

There You’re Stuck

Can Change That Plan

Living With

That’s A Mistake

From This There’s No Way Out

Only One Can Help Me Live

The Future’s At Hand

Is It Due To

Now This Can Start

You Will Need A Microscope

Do You Understand

At No Cost

Another Log On The Fire

Right Up To

Now It’s Up To You

Above Life’s Blunders

I Search No More

You Come First

The Troubles I’ve Felt

He Hears This Call

It’s Me, I Must Bring

Showered With It

From The Sun

As I Move

Don’t Even Have A Clue

That Guy

Shows Doom

Our Calls

There’s No Joy

Life’s Giving A New Meaning

To Where You Be

For Me To Begin

I Pray For Today

Please Help

Easier To Cope

To Waste

Life As A Game

Others Have Learned

Peace Be Upon You

Controls The Minds

It’s So Pretty

We Give

Brighten Our Lives

My Dreams

Is A Small Token

All Into Dust

Club Fed

These Mean Streets

A New Day

Plain

Untimely And Unjust

The Right Way

Playing By The Rules

Think

Day Before Yesterday

The Territory

I Come From

We Stood

That Thing Called

No Smile

Around The Bend

By Standing

That We Waste

A Needed Hug

Its Never-Ever Found

Way Of Life To Turn

It Might Be To Late

Nothing Of Their Own

Close Behind, That Door

That Once Hurt

Just To Live

Hard To Duck

No Place To Hide

Walking Out Of Hell

There’s No Place To Hide

The Way I Kept On Living

Help To Be Strong

At All Cost

Have Gotten Through

Reflections, Of The Past

Died From It

On One’s Self

Now Do You See

I Can’t Continue

We’re After

Drip, Drip, Drip

The Blues

You Used To Be

Called The Future

There’s Nothing There

Hope Is Something

Where I Don’t Want To Stay

Worst Of The Worst

Don’t Go Out

Has Been Lost

Just Got To Keep On Rollin

Live A Better Life

At Risk

Watch Yourself

This To Be

I’ve Signed A Truce

I Had To Survive

Back In Stroke

Through All Of This

About Tommorrow

It’s Here

This Heart Of Mine

Their Souls

A.G.A.I.L

I Have Within

Await

A Tear

Us

Cope

Held Open

To Live For

With This Knowledge

Why

To Ourselves

To Being All Right

I’ve Had Enough

There’s Light?

With Your Nights

Giving Up Lifes Treasure

Can’t And Won’t See

While You’re Napping

It’s Everywhere

How Did It Get There

Dope Game

To Whom You Lie

The Stranger

As To Where You Will Be

This Is For You

Check This

The Next Day

Dream

Calling

Make Better Decisions

It Isn’t That Nice

About Tomorrow

You Can Trust

What Do You Think About Your Life

Why Things Stop

Comes To Pass

Past Years

From Weakness

I Could Hear

The Weak And The Strong

What Was Before

No Jive

It Is All Up To You

Blind To The Times

Walking Through Talks

The Troubles She’s Felt

Valley Of Tears

Let Their Lives Go

All Over Town

Every Day

The Get-Away

By The Rules

From Roxbury Now

Doing Time

THE LAST OF ME

If I can only

Skip free

They’ve seen

The last of me

July 8, 1993

MADE IN THE U.S.A

Made in the USA

Young blood on the ground

Pictures, teddy bears, all around

That scream, it’s a Mother’s sound

Hope’s long, long gone

A church repeats a sad song

Of a life story, that went wrong

After this, how can you be strong?

Once sons and daughters

Buried a Mother

Now Mothers are burying

A daughter and a son

For God sake

What have we done

To take the right of way

From the rising sun

What we see here today

The future of tomorrow’s gone astray

To God I pray

Will we ever find the way

Made in the USA……………………………

May 17, 2009

NOT, TODAY

From the desk

Just beyond the window

The view is gray

It will not

Be in the way

Of what I have to do

Today, not today

December 24, 2008

THE CHAINS HAVE BEEN BROKEN

Beyond the underground rail

Behind there’s a teardrop trail

Leading us, to this here park

To show our ancestors, the dream set sail

Atop of our ancestor’s bones

We continue to forever stand

When by yourself, you’re not alone

Because we didn’t get here on our own

We are the dream, the hope, and the wish

That God gave our ancestors, to give to us

Celebrating Juneteenth, is a must

This is something we have to trust

The gospel truth came

By the words spoken

Two years past late

The Chains Have Been Broken

From then to right now

We’ve got to keep on living

Truth is, I ain’t joking

I’m sure you’ve heard

Our ancestor’s saying

The chains have been broken ……

June 9, 200?

SAD STANDING THERE

Help is very hard to give

When someone chooses not to live

Back turned on God, the Creator

Only to face Lucifer, who has nothing to give

Many before, many after, will run

Searching for something that’s not there

Leaving behind hopes, wishes, dreams

Watching this happen,

Its sad standing there………………………………………………..

April 6, 2009

BACK AGAINT THE WALL

Every single step

Of the street

Has its own story

Some shine with hope

Others come up short

Just before, the morning of glory

There is so many chapters

Written within the pages

Of the endless street story

A rising star rises to fall

Corporate America builds another mall

Saying bring your money, big or small

Who cares, who cares

If you’re living with your

Back against the wall

March 6, 2008

IS LISTENING

The inner city sound

Silent and dangerous

Amongst the lost and found

Money is short all over town

Living paycheck to paycheck

People losing self respect

USA failing to stand and protect

God only knows what’s to come next

Love and care has been replaced by fear

It’s here, there, and everywhere

In the eyes stands another tear

Within a Mother whose felt the fear

While watching and watching

Hoping and hoping

Praying and praying

God himself is listening

Date unknown

HOW MANY TIMES

How many times

Can one climb

Out of the same old shit

Time and time again

One keeps on diving in

Self-destruction is, a sin

To yourself, you’re not a friend

Going to the point

Called no return

Some stay with no care

Others find a reason to learn

How many times

Can one climb

Out of the same old shit ……………………….

June 18, 2009

NO WINNERS GAME

Hood gangster, on American soil

Continue to play, no winners game

Reaching and touching pot of gold

Like milk left out, things start to spoil

Dreams sliding out of hands like oil

Ray Charles could see, Al Capone lose the race

Pablo Escobar’s money large, no hiding place

Race they ran in, filled gravedigger’s empty space

Some do, others don’t give it another try

There’s a bad side to a story, that’s no lie

Money has blinded more than one eye

Quarter covering an eye

Mac truck unseen you die

Truth of a story, it’s cold and mean

Best laid plans, turned on by a scheme

Jealousy has taken life, out of the dream

Hood business, it’s cold and mean

To see the rise, and the fall

Of the chosen one, who got the call

It was all love stacking, and stacking

Bottom dropped out, then the long fall

2009

BARES THE SOUL

Have you yourself

Ever been

Where you couldn’t

Find a friend

Near the ropes end

Roads end, another begins

Ever been, ever been

Where shits thick and thin

No way out, once you’re in

Running, and gunning

Hustling