We all know that the manner in which people behave toward one another can tell us a lot about their private lives. In this amusing poem by David Allan Evans, poet laureate of South Dakota, we learn something about a marriage by being shown a couple as they take on an ordinary household task:
“Neighbors”
By David Allan Evans
They live alone
together,
she with her wide hind
and bird face,
he with his hung belly
and crewcut.
They never talk
but keep busy.
Today they are
washing windows
(each window together)
she on the inside,
he on the outside.
He squirts Windex
at her face,
she squirts Windex
at his face.
Now they are waving
to each other
with rags,
not smiling.
———-
This column by Ted Kooser, U.S. poet laureate, is from the Web site American Life in Poetry (www.americanlifeinpoetry.org). The poem was reprinted from “Train Windows,” Ohio University Press, 1976, by permission of the author.
