(after Gary Lemons)

Hunger walks down the street disguised
as a neighbor with a house and car.
The mortgage on the house is in default
and the car is about to be repossessed.

No one is happy, not the neighborhood
association, not the tow truck operator,
not even the bankers or the lawyers
they hire – no one
is happy when hunger passes by.

If this moment were examined
we’d see the car is actually part
of the neighbor, what drives him
to live in this upscale neighborhood.

We’d see the roof shingles flutter.
We’d see paint from the walls
ooze into the backyard pool
where neighborhood kids swim.

Speaking for anyone
who has been transported over a county
line where there are
soup kitchens,

I say – hunger does not confine
itself to the outwardly
destitute – this is
wishful thinking wearing
rose-colored glasses –

at any moment the car
might be resting in the attached
garage, the house loud
with everyday activities
that cover the shuffle
of papers and clicking of pens.