the right permits

every house on the block got sold to the city

it's sad

but some offers you just can't refuse

mortar and brick once towering tall

when a city is changing

you can't have it all

now the building's a bike shop where we went to high school

the house where my mother lived is a restaurant

the old public housing holds gallery art walks

the tourists ask where the wine tasting is

and all the pneumatic drills and old bribes in the paper

machinery thrashing and blowing off steam

big business and councilmen laughing about it

if you've got the permits

you can do what you please

now the bulldozers tumble out over the rocks

and the mold in the clapboard is making me sick

some worker in denim keeps calling me linda

i sign all his papers

but that's not my name

i pocket his money and then walk away