Tales from the Stoop
(The Neighbors)

Mr. Charlie
did not scream
no cuts or lacerations
or bullet holes
nor needle marks
were seen.
His neighbors noted
his last meal, Cornbread,
Pig feet & Collard greens
& a very cheap,
very sweet
Strawberry wine.
Mr. Clarke,
his neighbor
from down the hall,
slipped Mr. Charlie’s
strawberry wine &
ate his pig feet &
collard greens &
cornbread. (after he found the butter)
(thinking to himself “It’s still warm enough to melt the butter”)
Saying to his neighbors
watching him,
“It’s in the Good Book
ya know, the
Lord said
that nothin’ to be
wasted,” said Mr. Clarke between bites,
(he wondered where the dessert was.) he
did not believe
or even think
food poisoning
may have caused
Mr. Charlie
to expire.
Mr. Johnson,
his neighbor,
one floor down,
checked Mr. Charlie’s
medicine cabinet, to
see if his departed neighbor
had O.D. or fell victim
to some strange disease.
& found
valium & viagra
both of which
he pocketed, while winking
at Ms. Reed, a pretty widow from down the hall,
Her brown hand in white grove with blue lace trimming
elegant in its movement to cover a bit of grey
fallen from under her blue bonnet Sunday hat.
(his arm brushed
against her breast)
She said, turning from him to face her neighbors,
“Mr. Charlie
didn’t O.D. nor
did he take God’s plan?
into his own hands.”
“Look,” she said, stopping Mr. Clark from entering
Mr. Charlie’s bedroom…
“We found, no blood, no vomit.
.Candles are lit, incense is burning,
dinner made not eaten.
Fresh flowers arranged, placed upon dining table.
Perhaps he was expecting someone?”
She took Mr. Clark’s hand gliding him too where his neighbors stood. Saying too them, in her story telling voice.
“Mr. Charlie liked Jazz & Ole School
Soul, he read & wrote poetry.
His favorite’s poets were Gwendolyn Brooks & Langston Hughes.”
“He loved Lemon Meringue pie,”
she said placing a white box on the table.
“Last summer we ate watermelon together on the
fire escape, spitting seeds
at fat June bugs buzzing all around us.”
Pausing her hand moved swiftly
under her eyes in a wiping motion,
I will call the police they will come & do what the do.
The neighbors heard the despair, regret, in her voice they turned to look at her.
She smiled at them saying,
“Sometimes we die expecting someone.
Sometimes we die of natural causes.
like white folks do.”