Remembering Chicago
The Vietnam Era.
The class of 67.
I turned 18 that year.
At the time, too young to vote
But not too young for the draft.
Some were sent off to Saigon. No. I did not flee to Canada. I went to Chicago. College, marriage, Christian ministry, social work.
There is the regular jungle like those in Vietnam. And then there is the other jungle, the asfalt. I served both my Lord and my Country in that asfalt jungle of Chicago.
Notwithstanding, Chicago became very dear to my heart. There were some fearful experiences there; like those in the riot of '68, like being robbed one dark night in Lawndale, Cabrini Green, K town, and like being threaten with bodily harm on 43rd street.
But the work there and the fond memories that I took away are till now a 'treasure cove'.
Like none other that I have ever experienced, the people I met there and how my life was forever shaped from those 7 years spent in Chicago are perhaps what I treasure most.
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Categories:
cabrini, chicago,
Form: Narrative
And Our Lucky Winners Are --
And here is our list of winners:
Bernie Sanders, Brandon Johnson
Alexandra O. Cortez, Elizabeth Warren
Cory Bush, Ayanna Pressley
Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlieb
Joseph Biden, Kamala Harris
O, you lucky duck progressives, you!
Your tour guide will be the hologram of Chicago's late Mayor,
Richard J. Daley
Who will show you his administration's 'crown jewel,'
its experiment in 'public housing'
The Robert Taylor Homes on the South Side
Cabrini-Green on the Near North
'Hizzoner' the Mayor will show you apartments in the cinder-block buildings
on the day of their inauguration, gleaming-clean and pristine...
... Then you'll view them a handful of years later
Boarded-up windows, graffiti everywhere
Gunfire crackling, drug addicts cackling
blocking entrances and stairs...
The best of progressive intentions gone a-glimmering
Give tenants something for nothing, they get ~ angry
"Why we gettin' this sheet"
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Categories:
cabrini, adventure, anger, betrayal, chicago,
Form: Free verse
Ain'T That the Blues
She’s familiar…
ain’t that the blues
Sleeping beside her,
I always knew
Chipped beef on Monday,
Thursday cold stew
Dishes piled high,
paycheck gone through
She’s familiar…
ain’t that the blues
Home from work early,
today around noon
Mattress was creaking,
my pistol I drew
Two shots in my brother
—four more in the flooze
(Chicago Illinois: Performed with Clinton Mace at Cabrini Green 1985)
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Categories:
cabrini, betrayal,
Form: Rhyme
Ain'T That the Blues
She’s familiar,
aint that the blues
Sleeping beside her,
everyone knew
Chipped beef on Monday,
Thursday cold stew
Dishes piled high,
paycheck gone through
She’s familiar,
ain’t that the blues
Home from work early,
today around noon
Mattress was creaking,
my pistol I drew
Two shots in my brother,
—four more in the flooze
(Chicago Illinois: Performed with Clinton Mace at Cabrini Greene 1985)
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Categories:
cabrini, betrayal,
Form: Rhyme
Caseworker's Tune
Caseworker’s Tune
Cabrini-Green
Public Housing
Chicago
Where I am now
there are no leas, no
sheep feeding.
There are tenements,
children breeding.
Where I am now
there are no trees, no
wrens lighting.
There are halls far, dark,
an old man peeing.
Donal Mahoney
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Categories:
cabrini, urban
Form: Free verse
Caseworker's Rounds
Caseworker’s Rounds
Cabrini-Green
Public Housing
Chicago
Where I am now
there are no leas, no
sheep feeding.
There are tenements,
children breeding.
Where I am now
there are no trees, no
wrens lighting.
There are halls far, dark,
an old man peeing.
Donal Mahoney
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Categories:
cabrini, social
Form: Free verse
Caseworker: Yams and Plantain
Caseworker: Yams and Plantain
Cabrini-Green Housing Project
Chicago
Bienvenido’s comin’ over,
says his wife,
to ‘splain me
why the kids
have got no rice,
no beans,
how the landlord’s
shovin’ notes beneath
the door again.
In Puerto Rico Bienvenido
dug up yams,
was paid in plantain,
came over here,
brought his wife,
then his kids.
First New York,
then Chicago,
gave up yams,
gave up plantain,
just to drum
and make a living.
Donal Mahoney
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Categories:
cabrini, social
Form: Free verse
Caseworker Determining Eligibility
Caseworker Determining Eligibility
Cabrini-Green Projects
Chicago
The child, age two, hammocked in the half
moon of his mother’s arms, is locked
in palsy, yet moves an eyelid as I ask,
moves the other as his mother answers,
application form interrogation.
The father was a white policeman.
“Curiosity,” the mother says. “No more.
I didn’t go with him for money.”
Donal Mahoney
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Categories:
cabrini, socialmother,
Form: Free verse