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Yes. I remember East Boston

The way it was when I was ten,

When Mamma Rosa stirred her sauce

Or “gravy,” as I called it then.

 

I still hear Logan’s jumbo-jets

Vast-wing’d and screeching overhead,

Their noise like brutal fighting words

From toughs who’d gladly see me dead.

 

Kushner’s had shoes. Lacy’s had sheets.

Sound Factory had 45s

From disco divas and rock bands:

“Le Freak” and “Born to Be Alive.”

 

And after school, I’d ride the bus

Where older women (aged thirteen)

Would tease me till my mind shrank back

To my own world where girls weren’t mean.





Poetry by Xerxes Riffraff The PoetBay support member heart!
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Written on 2026-01-02 at 08:12

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D G Moody The PoetBay support member heart!
I especially liked the 'older women' simile; a good tight poem that evokes a time and place.
2026-01-02


Griffonner The PoetBay support member heart!
Oh the memories of growing up, eh? I loved your memories. Very charming.
For about four years I travelled to a technical college daily, by bus, a jouney of just over an hour. It was the only place I met with girls, and where I several times 'fell in love'. I was older than you were, so perhaps my shyness at that stage was an attraction! Who knows!
Blessings, Allen
2026-01-02