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Eleventh Avenue Racket

by Carl Sandburg, 1920

There is something terrible
 about a hurdy-gurdy,
 a gipsy man and woman,
 and a monkey in red flannel
 all stopping in front of a big house
 with a sign “For Rent” on the door
 and the blinds hanging loose
 and nobody home.
 I never saw this.
 I hope to God I never will.

   Whoop-de-doodle-de-doo.
   Hoodle-de-harr-de-hum.
 Nobody home? Everybody home.
   Whoop-de-doodle-de-doo.

 Mamie Riley married Jimmy Higgins last night: Eddie Jones died of whooping cough: George Hacks got a job on the police force: the Rosenheims bought a brass bed: Lena Hart giggled at a jackie: a pushcart man called tomaytoes, tomaytoes.
   Whoop-de-doodle-de-doo.
   Hoodle-de-harr-de-hum.
     Nobody home? Everybody home.

Published in Smoke and Steel
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