Fruit Belt Chronicles
The orchards were replaced by rows of lean streets.
They were named after their fruitful history.
Grape, orange, lemon, and peach.
Back in the day. I worked for a moving company
Long after the slum lords took hold of the reins.
We dreaded going into the "fruit belt."
As did the police and firemen.
Our white faces contrasting with the faces of poverty...
One time, from a second-floor balcony.
A cluster of black kids rained spit down on us.
They laughed, turned us into instant cracker jacks.
Maybe they thought we were pinching their humble treasures.
We were mutts made of iron back then.
Shrugging it off and simply topped off the truck.
That was four decades past.
I have a much softer job now.
A few spitballs removed from those orchards of poverty.
Called Grape, Orange, Lemon, and Peach Street.
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