Cleaning
When I as 17
we were basically homeless
My father said,
“Your mother and I are
going to be living in a motel,
what are you and your sister
doing?”
I got a job cleaning
rooms in a hotel, sleeping
in a janitor’s closet
I could barely fit a
ratty old mattress in
After my sister,
got out of detention,
she got a job there too
We took turns working
and sleeping on that
ratty old mattress
I’m not proud of
what happened to me
but you have to live
I’m still cleaning rooms
but mostly in rich
people’s houses
It pays pretty good if
you know what you’re doing
and you actually show up
regular when you’re supposed to
Now my sister’s dead,
47 years old and she
died in her sleep
of natural causes,
a drug overdose
That’s a natural cause
in the world we came from