DAMEN AND DIVISION

damen and division
once chicago strong
polish immigrants
made famous by algren
a man of deep understanding
with mighty pen
spoke what the poor could not speak
eloquently with verse
he opened the guts of chicago
and my damen and division
still had some of those guts
i 'spose about thirty years ago
when i drank at the gold star bar
and bought package goods from cheap liquor stores
and made transactions with ladies of the night
and division street had parking back then
no "big brother" parking boxes
made for politician's war chests
the poweer brokers exclude the real chicagoans now
and the yuppies pour in from the 'burbs
and buy overpriced, watered-down, foo-foo drinks
and i leer at these hypocrites
who call themselves chicagoans
and i don't visit too often
because i feel sold out
i can't smoke in a bar
or order a three-finger whiskey anymore for a deuce
or sip from a bag on the street
and wear a beat-up army fatigue jacket
with knees torn out of my jeans
'cause i might be detained
by one of chicago's finest
on suspician of bein' a real chicagoan