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Poem – House for Sale in Shady Acres (By Donal Mahoney)

House for Sale in Shady Acres
The question isn’t why
your little world is
suddenly going to hell.
The question is what 
can you do about
the black couple
 
touring the house
on your block where
the sign just went up
day before yesterday.
The neighbors are calling
and everyone’s asking
 
what can be done
before they buy it.
Old Smitty is barely 
cold in the ground
but he can roll over
as often as he wants
because it’s his kids
 
who own the property.
They live miles away
and want money instead
of the house so why
wouldn’t they sell 
to the first buyer
who meets their price
and can get a loan.
That’s the American way.
Maybe you don’t care if
the couple moves in
but what can you do 
while flames of anger 
rise around you.
Not a damn thing
 
at the moment because
the neighbors burn
like Agent Orange.
But if that couple
buys the house you can
go over and ring their bell
at high noon some Sunday,
 
take a pie, shake hands
and say welcome to
the neighborhood
and tell them there’s 
no place on Earth
like Shady Acres,
something they’ll
discover too soon.

Author Bio:

donal-mahoney
Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri. He has had fiction and poetry published in various publications in the U.S. and elsewhere. Among them are The Galway Review (Ireland), The Recusant (England), The Missing Slate (Pakistan), Guwahatian Magazine (india), Bluepepper (Australia), The Osprey Journal (Wales), Public Republic (Bulgaria), and The Istanbul Literary Review (Turkey). Some of his earliest work can be found at http://booksonblog12.blogspot.com and some of his newer work at https://www.antarcticajournal.com/donal-mahoney-recent-works