Cheap carpet, caked with years of grime,
thrown across the cement floor like a shop rag,
stretched to the stained walls stacked high
with ordinary and torn boxes—resembling a mini
storage. Outside these walls, the police investigate yet
another stabbing. (Some movies are based on reality).
The old hood is across the street – which supposedly
separated old from new.
My mother, brother, two sisters and I slept, ate
and fought in that cube for more than three years.
The lights didn’t always work. The plumbing leaked
and the single door lock did not always lock. Harry never
spent money to have things fixed properly—It was the only
place Social Security and Welfare paid for. We slept
because we were tired and ate because we were hungry.