- Vol. 07
- Chapter 01
Every Street an Island
Here’s the driveway
where everybody in a circle
watched Hector beat me up
for being new
where Hector walked home
alone
while the circle said hello.
Here’s the backyard
where twins who went to Baptist school for bad girls
with patches for NRA rifle shooting
told me they went to church, then target practice
told me if I kissed them don’t worry
they wouldn’t eat me
because they were vegetarian
which was something I’d never worried about
until then
but the dad said I better not come around any more
so I didn’t
for a while.
Here’s the house
where a man paid me a dollar to snow-shovel his walk
where he invited me inside
where he showed me model train tracks
where he offered me lemonade
where I ran away.
Every Street an Island
Here’s the backyard
where I told Hector he’d find twin girls
where I didn’t mention the dad
where Hector had it coming.
Here’s the ghost house
where all the furniture was under sheets
where one day the door wide open
we walked in
up the stairs
where a grown man was crying.
Here’s the backyard
with the twin girls
where the dad wasn’t always home
where suddenly shy we told jokes
played poker
where they never bit
where I grew up.