In the small house down the block...

Hundreds of tangerine air fresheners
hang from the ceiling.

Cars come and go
At all hours
Furtive movement
Car to house
House to car

In the dim light
bills are traded for small baggies
Bits of chemical provide relief.
Temporarily

Nearby...
Children play
Happy
Ignorant of the filth that surrounds them

In the small house down the block...

Plastic buckets
Chemicals and bleach
Hollow-eyed adults use long sticks
to stir the brew
Fiberglass respirators and rubber gloves protect them
There is no God here.

Nearby...
Children play
Happy, smiling
Curious

In the small house down the block...

Skeletal adults are strewn
randomly on floors    couches   and     chairs
Sleeping the non-sleep of the drugged undead.
Cigarettes and blunts burn in ashtrays.
Roaches and rats feast
on ignored food

Nearby...
A child challenges a rat for pizza
She brushes off the bugs
Hunger overtaking revulsion
She bites down
Weekends are bad
Monday she'll eat again
at school
Where she's fed
her only reliable meals.
-- she hates Spring Break --

In the small house down the block...

A toddler bobbles around
He looks into this
He looks into that
Curious about the world around him

A bucket with bubbles
That's fun.
The bubbles are deep
He leans over
He reaches
down, down, down
SPLASH!!!

It must have been the sirens
that caused them to stir.
It wasn't his agonized screams
It wasn't the girl's wailing and tears
Huh? Wha?
They rise
Unfocused, unaware, unconcerned

3:19 PM

In the small house down the block...
A 17 month old boy dies of chemical burns
To the eyes, nose, trachea, and lungs

Nearby...
The skeletal adults are angry
that they will receive $357.84 less
in welfare payments next month.