Smith Street

My parents haved lived on Smith Street

For pretty much

Their entire lives

Or my entire life

When I first moved out

I got this place over Federal Hill

With my friend Carly

And that’s where we lived

For most of our, uh, twenties

The two of us

She’s in Minnesota now

But we still talk all the time

And she’s always trying to, uh,

Get me to move out there

But, like, I’m not going to move

To a colder climate, you know?

Plus I have to keep an eye

On my parents

That’s always been the case though

Even when I was younger

I remember going to parent/teacher conferences

With my parents

And I had to translate for them

Which is--

I mean, think about how awkward that is

The teacher telling your parents

How you’re doing in school

Or, like, you’re telling them

Thank god I did well in school

So the teachers never

Had much to say

But even if they had

I could have said

Anything I wanted

The only criticism I ever got

Was that my teachers thought

I wasn’t having enough fun

No really, that’s what they used to say

She’s not having enough fun

She’s like a little adult

Well, no kidding

Look at me sitting here

Look at what I have to do

I’m not bagging on my parents

But, you know, it was the reality

Of the situation

They need me

It’s not their fault

Not really

They could speak some English

And nowadays they’re practically fluent

But when I was little

It was tough for them

Really tough

And, um--

That meeting with the teacher

Who said I wasn’t having enough fun

I’m sitting there

Telling this to my parents

And they’re all embarrassed

And on the way home

My Dad is, like, scolding me

Being like--

Start having fun

And my mother

She understands

She’s like--

How is she supposed to have fun

And do her schoolwork

And watch her little sister

And do her chores

And be a kid?

And my dad just didn’t say anything

They expected so much from me

And that’s how it was when they were growing up

And nobody ever told their parents

That they needed to be kids

They thought that was being a kid

Like, to them,

Stress and stuff

That wasn’t something

You didn’t experience

As a kid

It was just something

That intensified

As you got older

This was the first time

Somebody told them

That, like--

No, it’s not supposed to be like that

They didn’t know

And my Dad finally settled on--

Just pretend like you’re having fun

To make these Americans happy

He talked about it

Like it was some cultural thing

Like American kids are lazy and stupid

But pretend to be like them

So I don’t have to listen

To lectures

From your teacher

Who, by the way, was an immigrant

Same as us

Just different country

But I didn’t say that

I didn’t even understand that

At the time

At the time

I couldn’t put any of this together

It took awhile

For me to do that

It actually took

Way too long