Last poem is called "Neighbors."
Will they have children?
Will they have more children?
Exactly what is their position on dogs--
large or small, chained or running free?
Is the wife smarter than the man?
Is she older?
Will this cause problems down the line?
Will he be promoted?
If not, will this cause marital stress?
Does his family approve of her and vice versa?
How do they handle the whole in-law situation?
Is it causing some discord already?
If she goes back to work, can he fix his own dinner?
Is his endless working about the yard
and puttering with rain gutters really
just a pretext for avoiding the problems inside the house?
Do they still have sex?
Do they satisfy one another?
Would he like to have more, would she?
Can they talk about their problems?
In their most private fantasies, how would each of them
change their lives?
And what do they think of us as neighbors, as people?
They are certainly cordial to us.
Painfully polite when we chance encounter one another
at the roadside mailboxes, but then like opposite magnets,
we lunge backward, back into our own deep root systems.
Darkness and lust, strangling any living thing
to quench our thirst and nourish our helplessly solitary lives.
And we love our neighborhood for giving us
this precise opportunity, this precious opportunity.
And we love our dogs, our children, our husbands
and wives.
It's just all so damn difficult. Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]