Childhood and Other Neighborhoods

They tore down
The strip mall
Where we used to buy beer
The dollar theater
Has been gone
For about two years
The record store
Has been closed
Since we were seventeen
Our art teacher
She died
From a ruptured spleen
Ghosts always lived
Right next door

Let's take the Red Line
Back to where we were
Raised
Remembering imagined
Better days
When you kissed me
Under the viaduct
And said that you're in love
With my bad luck

The ships stopped arriving
On Lake Calumet
The bars where the racists go
And bookies take a bet
Is filled with workers
From Jalisco
And no one ever tells them
They have to go

Let's take the Red Line
Back to where we were raised
When we'd fun of brothers
Trying to play
Purple Have
Childhood and other
Neighborhoods

Talk is cheap
But the story's always good
For decade's always said
Things ain't what it used to be
But it was always dirty
Like a chimney sweep

Nostalgia is a trickster
Selling bad used cars
But in my heart
You are never far