Landlord NowE

(keys)

I'm the landlord now! (now!) Same buildin'! (same one!)

Where they cut the heat off on my mama and her children

I'm the landlord now! (now!) Guess what I did? (what?)

Fixed the boiler first. Then I fixed the rent.

Keys! (keys!) All twelve! (twelve!)

Nobody gettin' put out. I remember myself.

Orange paper on the door, 3B, I was ten

Mama read it twice, put it in her purse, smiled again

Ran the bathroom faucet so we wouldn't hear her cry

I heard. I turned the TV up so she could think I didn't. That's a lie

We both kept. January, oven open for the heat

Three of us in coats in the kitchen, fell asleep

Landlord had a Florida number and a voicemail full

Super, Mr. Otis, snuck us heaters. Broke a rule.

I wrote his name down. I wrote the landlord's name down, too.

Ten years old with a list. I ain't know yet what I'd do.

I'm the landlord now! (now!) Same buildin'! (same one!)

Where they cut the heat off on my mama and her children

I'm the landlord now! (now!) Guess what I did? (what?)

Fixed the boiler first. Then I fixed the rent.

Tax auction, county steps, nine a.m., it's rainin'

Three bidders. Two was flippers. I was the one who stayed in

Closed it in a company I named after my mother

Walked in with a plumber, an electrician and his brother

Told him "you the manager. Here's a raise. And here's the lease

For the garden unit. Free. For life. You earned it in the cold."

He ain't say nothin'. Grown man. Just stood there. Had to hold

The rail. That's the return I was lookin' for. Not the yield.

Though the yield is fine. I checked. I'm still me. It's still a deal.

Heat on? (heat on)

Everybody? (everybody)

All winter.

(I'M THE LANDLORD NOW!)

I'm the landlord now! (now!) Same buildin'! (same one!)

Where they cut the heat off on my mama and her children

I'm the landlord now! (now!) Guess what I did? (what?)

Fixed the boiler first. Then I fixed the rent.

Keys! (keys!) All twelve! (twelve!)

Mama got the top floor. Picked the paint herself.