No Cruising Zone, Food and Liquors, No Ball Playing: All the signs from Fullerton Avenue

Eve Ewing's, "All I ever really wanted you to know about me / was Fullerton Avenue" inspired my own poetry efforts. I read the poem during a professional development activity. The poem is part of Ewing's collection of poems from her book Electric Arches. Our faculty read it to reflect on how the places we live impact who we are and how that impacts how we teach our students.

Ewing's poem amazed me, because was also raised on Fullerton and Kimball. On occasions we both rode the Fullerton bus past our normal stop as a safety precaution. I felt the sights, smells and sounds she captured - because I lived it. She captures the Logan Square of so few white people, you were either Polish or the child of a leftist.

I was also amazed at our different experiences. I was a boy who played sports all over the alleys, parks and boulevards of the neighborhood. It was our age differences, Fullerton Avenue was a much different place in the 80's and 90's (when the Bulls were winning titles) than it was when Ewing came of age. Ewing described a community at the tail end of a gentrification process. My experience was a community at the nascent transition.

My poem focused on all the signs I read as a youth on and around Fullerton Avenue.

"The Signs of Fullerton"

No cruising zone is what the sign said;

As crotch rockets explode with noise

Demanding attention and attracting eyes-

From the avenue's honies, walking without purpose

Ground effects, car clubs, booming systems

Jumpin' Julian’s House music, Mix tapes and free style

We pile in deep, Mom’s Honda Civic for miles

Who’s got five on a dime sack? Or a Jew Town Polish?

Open 24 hours a day is what the sign said;

Once we called you Donald Ducks,

But Disney got mad, and then it was Dukes

Beer and wine on tap, by the pitcher

Winos, hypes, hobos anytime got their fixes

Arcade games under greenhouse windows

Busted and broken, shot up the night before

Broken sticks for 50 cents is what the sign said;

Andrews taffy apple, direct from factory defects

Pancho’s jibaritos, Casablanca tacos, Dimartino’s beefs,

Tony’s Finer Foods, arrachera, fresh cut meats

McDonald's coffee, sharing stories, viejitos loitering

Viking Ski shop, Yuppie benzo’s double parked

Avon Theater karate flicks, YMCA for a swim,

“At risk” and bible thumpers only used the church gym

Torn between both had no mentors, me left to fend

Moneil’s Food and Liquor is what the sign said;

Heavy on the liquor, but light on the food

The best cut of meat came from Spam

The beans were fresh, yeah fresh out the can!

Milk and bread were sold all night,

Never any fruit or veggies in sight

We first called it the Greek store, but Abdul wasn’t Greek

Then called the A-Rab store, next wave of misunderstood outsiders

Must be 21 to buy liquor is what the sign said;

Kids were welcome to buy their sweets,

Being groomed for future illicit treats

Hostess, Jays chips, Little Debbies cakes

Cold pop washes down, years later tooth aches

Five years later, buying forties from the same guys

They smile when you buy food that’s no good

Same smile though, selling poison to the hood

To serve and protect is what the sign said;

Neighborhood kid makes it good as the law

But PoPo vet hates the new local youth

Sights on me, holding my brown bag from Moneil’s

“Pour the brew- into your new Jordan’s kid!

Or else I call Mommy - and in jail you sit”

Not my new J’s! Street justice blues

Okay Mr. Officer, I’m taking off my shoes

No ball playing on Kedzie Boulevard is what the sign said;

Can't go to Koz park this week, feuding gangsters

I played on their lawn, got chased off by neighbors

Alley ball is fun, but we want to run and shake

Our football field was the parkway, for the juke and fake,

Rushing cars run you down if the sideline you seek,

Courage and strength play this game, not the meek

Now it’s farmers markets, millennials and flowers.

Yeti coolers, white claws and hipsters don’t like showers

Shoplifters will be prosecuted is what the sign said;

“C'mon man, nobody will watch the white boy

We draw attention, then you gaffle - fuck Kimball Pharmacy!

Unnoticed - you stroll out, pockets filled with loot

They look at us Latin’s as thieves from the start

I knew you’d be scared, typical white boy - no heart”

Just to prove a point, protect my rep, I stole to fit in

Growing chips on two shoulders, look like twins

Bus runs Halsted to Narragansett is what the sign said;

To the edge of the universe out west, Brickyard mall

JC Penny’s, Z Cavaricci’s, Girbauds and Merry Go Round

To the East was my high school, other world, different town

Front of bus overflows with people, back door has no takers

Can’t get in front, in the back too many troublemakers

Uptight until Western, relieved after Clemente kids disperse

The old white lady stops clutching her purse

Fullerton and Kimball is what the sign said;

Lifelong friends, love and loyalty

I hated you at one time, ashamed and out of place

Embraced you, only after I traveled the world

Priced out, with my own shorties and family

Now, we all live further west, celebrating your memory