today i was pickin on the fig tree / oh come and give me that perfect perfect candy / i’m goin to see america / my mother sailed across the sea to work and save and send for me / ooh pickin on the fig tree / grandfather grew figs no one could resist every year they were beyond the size of my fist / as i watched them growin every year i thought / how sweet those figs were gonna be / we were knowin / grandfather watched with protective eyes / the first one was for him he said as soon as seed was ripe / and they grew plump and juicy as they dangled heavy from that tree / and we thought / mmm / cuz our bellies were hungry / mmm / groans were readily rumblin / then one day when no one was home / my brother and antonio raced across the stones / where are you my dear / we climbed up over the fence and up the tree and made the first fig of the year / disappear / fig tree grow in me / and we traveled across the sea / boarded a ship with fruit from the yard in sicily / and i dreamed my body is a fig tree / opening / outside i don't understand all those voices / strange languages rippin around my head / what are you saying / i don't understand a word that you say / but the square root of pi / i know how to calculate and multiply / and listenin to the church bells playin / hear them ringin in bushwick / and the choir singin / ooh let’s go to coney island after school and smoke cigarettes and try to look cool / then shining she comes to me and she says here boy / some nuts pignoli / and she gently hugs me with strong arms / and produces a fig bigger than my palm
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