i was born on
the lower east side
of new york
so many years ago
the tenement house
i lived in
was five stories of pure misery
and poverty
it was nineteen seventeen
and the east side was
a breeding place for crime
my father was a tailor
my mother a housewife
they were poor
and lived on welfare
most of the time,
i played on those streets
with ragged clothes,
running between pushcarts
like a damned fool,
trying to imagine
i was a football player,
or baseball player,
i dodged the cops
i turned on fire plugs
i was a tough brat
who didn't care about anything,
blame it on the streets,
blame it on my upbringing,
blame it on anything
but me
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