thinking in verse

neighborhood

5:04 pm

we all complained about that shabby old neighborhood 

with the suspicious vendors along the streets

and the graffitied walls with obscene words

that our parents told us to ignore

we all complained how often the heating broke

and we huddled together in the cold

unsure of when it would be fixed

our parents telling us to hold on just a while longer

we all complained about the smell of smoke

that would seep in through our open windows

when it was 90 degrees hot in the summer

and the crickets kept us up all night

we all complained until we realised on the train

we were never going back

to this old neighborhood

that had become ours