What you know ’bout 10.
Tenement basements
daybreak brittle cold
coat covers
sleeping with a bunk bed wetter
stove-heated water
washing in front of the oven
one eye on the rat hole
behind the claw foot tub
sunday bath nightmares.
What you know ’bout that.
What you know ’bout 11.
The welcome smell of shooting gallery soot
deep nods of gyroscopic junkies
spiderman, the hulk, dr. strange
mad cool
you know about radioactive spiders
gamma rays and roots
you got people that work roots
you got people that know zombies
What you know ’bout that.
I’m not trying to make a point
I’m just asking.
What you know ’bout 12.
Thick crusty three day old hunger
grandma’s knitted hand
surplus food thursday
gold cans of usda approved mystery meat
powdered eggs and peanut butter
glad to have bologna & cheese.
What you know ’bout that.
What you know ’bout 13.
Hanging with the take-a-tokes
long inhales burnt fingernails
a run for ribs or fried rice
got you chicken wings
like bird, like billie, like miles you are mad cool
you knew they exhaled kinte cloth
lived burlap lives and knew hunger too
But what you know about that
don’t relate to my situation
I’m not talking about my childhood
I’m just asking what you know about that.
Fried Chicken & Philosophy 