One of Zuri’s defining characteristics in the book is her talent for writing poetry. Zuri’s poetry parallels her evolution throughout the book. For example, when she’s preoccupied with gentrification, she writes “How to Save the Hood” (34). When she’s enamored with Warren, she writes “Boys in the Hood” (72). When she’s falling for Darius, she writes “Dance of the River Goddess” (125), reflecting on her newfound openness to romance. Zuri’s poetry is also used to explore the book’s central themes (e.g., “How to Save the Hood” and gentrification). While reflecting Zuri’s changing character, her poems also serve as a point of continuity in Zuri’s life, giving her the comfort she needs to evolve. When she reads her poems at Busboys and Poets in D.C., she realizes: “That’s when I know this place can be an extension of my block too, like home” (154).

In addition to serving as a symbolic representation of Zuri’s personal evolution, her poetry also hints at Zuri’s own “otherness” compared to other teens her age in her Bushwick neighborhood. Although Zuri doesn’t recognize it herself, her friend Charlise comments on it when she asks Zuri: “Why can’t you just rap like everybody else?” (73) In the hood, writing poetry is abnormal, and rapping would be more accepted.