Paycheck Blues

Cabrini Green

I never lived in the projects,

I was a spoiled brat in the suburbs

I guess.

My dad was an alcoholic,

But he had a good job.

All of his brothers and his friends drank,

It was like a poor-man's Rat Pack back then.

They smoked cigars and cigarettes, and drank Pabst Blue Ribbon

Downstairs in the basement at the pool table.

My mother stayed home and ironed.

A lot.

With starch and water in a spray bottle.

Her and the neighbor ladies were in a silent competition to see who could keep the cleanest house !

The I-talian neighbors thought they were better, my mom said

Because they had six kids, and plastic sofa covers you slid off of in your Sunday dress.

I had a little straw hat and white patent leather Mary Janes for Easter,

Like my friend Janine at school

Who lived in the projects

And wore a too-tight pair of black shoes to school every day.

I liked her hand-me-down dresses 'cause

She had so many of them from her older sisters

And I was jealous !

My dad didn't like me talking to her

Because she was colored,

I didn't understand.

But

I played with her anyway after school

Until the bus picked her up and drove her

Back to Cabrini Green.

The train used to go by the projects,

When we rode it downtown to the museums or shopping.

My mom said it was an eyesore and

They ought to tear it down !

She couldn't understand why I started crying,

But where would Janine live

If they tore it down ?