Places I Have Lived In My Life: Poem by Aldo Kraas

My home in Brazil had two balconies:
A little balcony in my mother's bedroom
And big balcony in the living room
My bedroom was small
With green walls.
My brother's bedroom was bigger than mine
With brown walls and a beige ceiling
We had maids that looked after the house
One prepared our food while the other cleaned the house and did laundry
At that time I lived with my brother, sister, father and mother
We were a busy household.
After that I lived in Boston with just my mother
And no maids.
I had to do everything with my mother
We lived across from the Charles river
In a 2 bedroom apartment
The kitchen was small
And my Mother prepared the meals
We were busy staying busy there.
After that I lived in Montreal with my mother
In a one bedroom apartment
I slept in the living room
My mother took the bedroom
And I had no privacy
There was little for me to do in Montreal except shop
Or eat in restaurants
I kept busy trying to fall asleep at night to the glow of the TV.
In Toronto I initially lived across from High park
I had my own bedroom
And my mother had hers
It was very nice to live across from the park because any time I wanted to go to the park
I simply crossed the street.
The trees had all their leaves on
And the flowers were out in full bloom
Beauty kept us busy.
In North York I lived in a condo
The condo had 2 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms
The kitchen was small
But the living room was big with 350 plants that mother looked after
Also we had a dog called Lilly
Who was always busy barking.
When we moved to Pickering, we had a big house
With a living room and a family room
The large staircase was located in the middle of the house
And to get to the bedrooms all you had to do was walk up the stairs
The master bedroom was my mother's
Mine was smaller and faced the street
With a view of a pond
Where turtles and gold fish swam.
There was tile on the kitchen floor and into the hall
There was carpet in the family room
And all 4 bedrooms.
There was a guest bathroom downstairs
And the basement was unfinished
Somedays I kept myself busy vacuuming all those rooms!
Later on we moved to a condo in Pickering
Called Discovery Place.
The condo had all the facilities:
2 swimming pools,1 party room, and 2 tennis courts
24 hours security + laundry in our unit
We had a hallway with marble floors
But the rest was carpeted
The kitchen was small but the floor tiles were bright
We also had a den with a TV
And two bedrooms.
I was busy there, saying goodbye to my mother.
Later it was back to Toronto
A semi-detached bungalo
Upstairs was mine: 3 small bedrooms, 1 kitchen, a living room and dining room
The basement was finished and belonged to Margaret.
It had one small kitchen,1 bathroom and a large bright living room
We had a front garden and a back garden
In the back garden there was a rock garden
At first poetry kept me busy
Because I missed my mother.
Later on I moved to where I live now
Alone
The suite has 1 bedroom with 1 bathroom.
The living and dining rooms are small
And there is no carpet.
All tiled wood.
The kitchen is very small. The condo has a balcony that looks out to the ravine
And from the window of my condo I can see the trees
And here I keep busy
Writing poetry about life.