Harlem's poet of the streets hits the skids

It’s enough to make Blue see red.

Harlem’s best-known street poet, Derrick Wilson, — who goes by the colorful nom de plume — has been evicted from his apartment and can barely make ends meet.

The author of “Don’t Beat Your Children Or They’ll Turn Out Like Me” and other urban verse made $4,000 a month selling his books in the subways back in 2005, but now he’s down to $1,600. And tough times call for some creative pitches.

"If you like poetry, you're going to have better sex," Wilson shouts to a crowd of passerby on W. 125th St., though his writing isn’t graphic.

As he hawks his wares on trains moving through Brooklyn, Bronx and Manhattan, Wilson mostly speaks in a classic urban argot.

"I come from a place where the scent of roach spray still gets me homesick...," he said, quoting himself.

The former boxer and barber grew up an army brat living in Europe and around the U.S. He took up writing full-time in 2001 after publishing his first poetry book, "Corner Stores in the Middle of the Block."

RELATED: HIS CAREER IS WRITE ON TRACK

That led to “Pretty Ugly," a novel about a man who finds himself in a bad situation, and "Don't Beat Your Children...," a book of poetry, prose and jokes.

His work is inspired by life.

"My mother beat the s--- out of me," said Wilson, who continues to perform at venues across the city.

Wilson blames the drag in business on the recession, online book sales, police crackdowns on rail-riding pitchmen, and closures of performance spaces such as the Bowery Poetry Club, the Red Room and the Living Theater.

“The climate in New York City is challenging for all artists, especially those in spoken word," said Daniel Gallant, executive director of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe where Wilson has performed. "The fundamental conditions of living and working in the city make it difficult to survive here as an artist."

Wilson says he wouldn't trade his career for anything — and vowed to keep on keeping on.

"When you get knocked down, you get back up," said Wilson. "I know deep in my heart this is what I'm meant to do."