5 Aug: "Ambition Over Adversity" by Tupac Shakur

Take one's adversity
Learn from their misfortune
Learn from their pain
Believe in something
Believe in yourself
Turn adversity into ambition
Now blossom into wealth

31 May: "Tribute to Spaceship Cadillac" by Jimmy Nameles

This poem is a tribute to a song written by Jake Drew. The melody if it still exists, is his as are many of the phrases. 

I don't want to see me “make it."
They say, “Congratulations!” But my future feels naked
When the wind blows, after the sun sets,
The comfort from a top firm doesn't warm the shivering from what comes next.

I show the driver my pass,
Sitting in back, on a paved path to another meaningless class.
Forget success!
If I was courageous, I'd digress,
Drop out of everything, university, society, and welcome sobriety...
Write poetry.

I pull the stop;
And I'm in deep thought.
I see a road not taken in my blind spot.

I'd rather die than fill a cubicle.
Nature's too beautiful. My life should be a musical because
It's so euphoric to wander the trails of an unknown land.

Freedom denigrates my consciousness; my world reeks of non-senses.
My passion? Doesn't include a mansion, or fashion.

I'd rather pull a cart, and hope it pulls what I need.
I'd rather be me.

Life's mine to manage.
The day I never made it, is when I'll make it.
I'm gone.