NEIGHBORHOODS
The places we lived when we were thirty,
Streets of friends on the way up,
Fairfax County, Jefferson Parish,
Super Bowl parties, seven-layer dip,
Dads walking in the street
Halloween night, beer in hand,
While kids rang doorbells.
And yet that time, that chemistry
Proved delicate,
Could not withstand divorce,
Transfer to Armonk, New York.
So now, as the eighth decade rolls on,
New bonds and chemistries at Golden Pines,
Fast friendships formed, short-term investment,
Monthly breakfasts,
Names of grandchildren learned,
Symphonies and speakers heard, small trees
Cared for in young yards--
Golden Pines
A posting not subject to transfer:
Shifts in population accepted
With a certain wistful equanimity,
Budgets for memorial gifts,
Extra coffee cakes in the freezer,
Against the inexorable day when
No one on our street
Remembers when it was new.
Robert Demaree is the author of four collections of poems, including Fathers and Teachers, April 2007, and Mileposts, October 2009, both published by Beech River Books, and Things He Thought He Already Knew, published online in 2007 by Slow Trains. The winner of the 2007 Conway, N.H., Library Poetry Award, he is a retired school administrator with ties to North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, where he lives four months of the year. He has had over 600 poems published or accepted by 130 periodicals. For further information see http://www.demareepoetry.blogspot.com
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