why can’t kids play on the
playground next door to me
it’s fenced locked except during
school hours liability says our
neighborhood president well
why can’t we extend insurance
to cover all hours this area needs
play space the kids use it anyway
they come into my back yard
throw their bikes over the chain
links scale the fence use the swings
slides hoops they clamber back to
pee behind bushes in my yard I
don’t mind what’s a little pee I
pee in cornfields on the highway
sometimes in the middle of the
night 2 or 3 a.m. I hear thump
thump thump on the playground
some lonely kid with or without
a home but having a basketball
©2016 Jacqueline Jackson
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 6, 2016.
