What happens on the stoop

Walking around Baltimore, I saw
An old grumpy woman smoking a cigarette
A young man with squinty eyes, sitting in a wheelchair, eating rice out of a plastic bowl
The grandmas sitting in the white lawn chairs watching
The kids breaking curfew watching
Drug dealers watching
The police who watch us on the blue light cameras
I wonder why my neighborhood has the problems it has
I like to think it's because the people are lazy, always sitting on the stoop, smoking and talking
My neighbors sit around outside
But where people can afford air conditioning and can't afford strangers, they sit around inside and watch television
Either way, we are just people watching people