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The poems

© 2010-2013

why they didn't leave

Luckily I came from poor
So I got it
Luckily I know what it’s like
To have the cupboard bare
No phone, no car
No stove, no washing machine
We had a public library, so I had books
A free public school, so I learned
And a mother who made light of poverty
You need to come from that
To know what you don’t need

Luckily, I had grandparents with a TV
So summers on hiatus, visiting them
My mother and I stayed up all night
Watching late-night movies
Laurel and Hardy and the Little Rascals
Casablanca and Doris Day
Even with a big supermarket a block away
We shopped at the neighborhood grocery store
Because they gave us credit
I had to make a dollar stretch
Milk was 20 cents
Hamburger 59 cents a pound
Bread 22 cents
I still remember that
Today I know
When they ask
Why they didn’t leave
I remember
My mother would’ve drowned
No car – and no money to buy
A pass out of town
She didn’t even know how to drive
The poor stay behind
Clutching the few things they have
A bed, a photograph
A way of life that is familiar
The dog, the cat
You do not lightly leave behind
So little