11,558. RECOLLECTS BYRAM SPENCER

RECOLLECTS BYRAM SPENCER

'I got my fever during the rent strike

and ever hardly woke up for four days.

When I did get back up I saw that they'd

all come through with hammers and all

the sinks and tubs were smashed. That 

was sure a help. They were worse than

the shitty landlord in bringing things

down. It wasn't no rent strike anyway

'cause there wasn't no rent and there

wasn't even any more a landlord. Just

some glittery suit guy from Long Island

every so often. We'd been squatters by 

this time for over a year, four full seasons

anyway, because I remember the open

fires that were built in the basement  -

yes, controlled but open. We figured 

heat rose, so the rest of the place would

benefit too. Chairs, lumber, pallets, we'd

burn anything we could find.  It never really
worked anyway, so we'd just end up sitting
around an open fire in a containment pit
that we'd dug. Angry Boy Scouts.There wasn't

no electricity, unless we hooked up to the

lamppost at the curb, which we sometimes

did. No cops, just dogs, cats, and rats too.

The place was a mess, and the Summertime

heat was even worse, blistering. People a

lot stayed in cars, the broken and foul ones, 

all along the curb. Cars. Everything was

broken and shattered; the whole place

was a real mess. You look at it all now,

thirty years later, and I still couldn't 

afford to pee in their yards. Then with

their drinks and shoes. I hate 'em all.'