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The Neighborhood

Text of Poem

The neighborhood has a mind and heart of its own
that do not meet the stranger frankly.
Meanings run hidden like underground streams
which well up in pools and angry fountains
when a housewife takes a lover
or a man is smothered in debt
or becomes blasphemous
or when a young boy or girl is touched
by the finger of death.

First Line
The neighborhood has a mind and heart of its own
Original Pub Location
Original Publication Date
1943
Original Citation
The Sun at Noon. Muscatine, Iowa: The Prairie Press, 1943. 24.
Complete Poems
54
Hearst Collections
Word Count
61
Poetic Form
open
Themes
Twitter Quote
The neighborhood has a mind and heart of its own / that do not meet the stranger frankly.