Like ivy
I’ve spread roots
wide across the yard;
curling
tendrils around porch posts
climbing to the eaves of the roof.

___

Paducah, Kentucky

Houses lined up—
kind faces with doors wide smiling.
All showing
dingy upholstered
teeth: some clean-shaven, most with a three
or four day beard to their shrubbery.
“C’mon in, ya’ll all make yoreselves at’ome!”

Vast smoking pits in back yards,
all shared; the word family
extends to everyone bearing a dish
or pitcher of iced tea. Friend
includes strangers bringing
empty stomachs.

Great Lakes, Illinois

Swarms of vehicles
weaving wildly: Mad
poisonous horde of mosquitoes,
each possessed by
frenzied angry worried frustrated
ghosts—
spirits living their lives,
none really controlling
their paths;
always scowling over exits.

Vienna, Illinois

Not even big enough for “City;”
village of 4-way
intersections: just one
stop light 2 miles out.

No matter that you don’t know their names,
one driver
stops to wave at the other three
before continuing
on his way.

Jackson, Missouri

Once swamp,
now drained and scrubbed clean;
inhabited by fanatic
and obsessively tidy little
psych-patients.
Every thing arranged a certain way—
messy yards whispered about
behind polished vases and balanced
bouquets of seasonal flowers.
Lawn furniture washed with
scented soaps:  Perfection
longs for a few ink blotches,
but no one here is clumsy enough
to drop a bottle.

___

Varied terrain
but ivy latches on to
both rich earth and
blemishes
on the surface of the wall,
thriving in sun or shade.