120. Harrison Street Court. Sandburg, Carl. 1916. Chicago Poems

Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Chicago Poems. 1916.

120. Harrison Street Court


I HEARD a woman’s lips
Speaking to a companion
Say these words:

“A woman what hustles
Never keeps nothin’	5
For all her hustlin’.
Somebody always gets
What she goes on the street for.
If it ain’t a pimp
It’s a bull what gets it.	10
I been hustlin’ now
Till I ain’t much good any more.
I got nothin’ to show for it.
Some man got it all,
Every night’s hustlin’ I ever did.”	15