Nextdoor they had lots of kids
and no goats
Nextdoor they got channel 7 on a color TV
The Jetsons, Flintstones, Johnny Quest
everything worthwhile was on channel 7
Nextdoor Mrs. Newman made white toast with butter & cinnamon
and did not dole out sugar
like it would rot your teeth
Nextdoor was where i so often wanted to be
and was
In that gigantic sprawling house
with the _ veranda
where we played with leggos & lincoln logs
& multinational army men
with hedges and vines and a lawn
with no dandelions that Mr. Newman kept mowed
or had the boys do
for he was always away
and on the rare occasion he was not
that was when i was sent home
I return from their yard into ours
where the goats do not look up from the grass
where my father stands naked in the kitchen
opening a can of beans
spam sizzling
a copy of Nietzsche
clasped in his armpit
a three-day green glow upon his face
pushing up his hornrims
asking
you hungry?
—Larry Crist