Thursday, April 27, 2017

There is a problem on our block--By Kelley White--United States

There is a problem on our block

The old woman
who drives the gold 1963 Ford Falcon
found a litter of kittens in her hosta bushes.
The mother moved the kittens
three times, first to the empty dog house,
where the woman had laid a carpet remnant,
then to a hole she had dug near the stone fence,
then to somewhere quite unknown.
Kids found the mother
dead, run-over in the street.
Miss Emma has all the unemployed men
in the neighborhood out searching.
They are climbing ladders
and crawling under porches.
They are opening broken doors
and shining lights into abandoned houses.
Everyone is listening very very carefully.
She has me searching too.

Pediatrician Kelley White worked in inner city Philadelphia and now works in rural New Hampshire. Her poems have appeared in journals including Exquisite Corpse, Rattle and JAMA. Her most recent books are Toxic Environment (Boston Poet Press) and Two Birds in Flame (Beech River Books.) She received a 2008 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant.

3 comments:

  1. This sad poem is well done. The repetition is effective, the simplicity sublime. I am deeply touched.

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  2. Dear Kelly,
    "There is a problem on our block" Draws the reader in to the point
    of wanting to help solve the problem, asking his self, where?
    Mystery of your story to share. Thanks for the writing.
    Yancy

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