Hour 12, "Curbside..."

2023 Poetry Marathon, Hour 12

Hour 12

9/2/2023

 

“Curbside…”

 

We used to have 8 inch high - curbs

really!

Great for sitting and sharing that

KNOWING pause of wisdom

just behind our eyes…

Then they repaved and repaved,

and repaved

’til the roads are higher than the sidewalks

- go figure.

And ya KNOW they never saw THAT coming!

 

Now the porch steps are the “curbs”

we sit upon,

and our shared “wisdom” varies to the risks

we are willing to take -

to reach beyond ourselves

when life so often happens at hand.

 

This is a quiet place -

even Mormons seldom pause.

Squirrels and the odd hawks wander by.

We even lose trees

and that is beyond rare elsewhere.

 

Secret gardens,

Whom to call for repairs…

replacing blinds;

dealing with plumbing; furnace spiders

(the ones that block the gas feed lines inside).

Kibitzing on each manager’s  method

of dealing with issues only they seem to see.

Always “Us” vs “them” ’til it isn’t.

 

Here its relatively safe, sedate,

quiet (’til it isn’t), and friendly (’til you’re irked).

“Curbs” to live by.

 

Chris

(C) Chris Twyford 9/2/2023

 

Author's Note

Feel free.